Impact of a Training Program on Oncology Nurses’ Confidence in the Provision of Self-Management Support and 5As Behavioral Counseling Skills

BACKGROUND: Cancer patients and their families play a central role in the self-management of the medical, emotional, and lifestyle consequences of cancer. Nurses with training in self-management support can enable cancer patients to better manage the effects of cancer and treatment. METHODS: As part of a randomized controlled trial, we developed a training program to build nurses' confidence in the provision of self-management support (SMS). The SMS skills taught were adapted from the Stanford Peer Support training programs and embedded within the 5As (Assess, Advise, Agree, Assist, and Arrange) behavioral counseling process. We evaluated the impact of the training program on oncology nurses' and coaches' confidence using a Student's t-test for paired samples in a nonrandomized, one-group pre/postsurvey. RESULTS: Participants were experienced oncology nurses from three participating cancer centers. A two-tailed Student's t-test for paired samples showed a significant improvement in nurses' confidence for the 15 SMS microskills targeted in the training between the pretest and post-test as follows: for Center 1, a mean difference of 0.79 (t = 7.18, p ≤ 0.00001); for Center 2, a mean difference of 0.73 (t = 8.4, p ≤ 0.00001); for Center 3, a mean difference of 1.57 (t = 11.45, p ≤ 0.00001); and for coaches, a mean difference of 0.52 (t = 7.6, p ≤ 0.00001). CONCLUSIONS: Our training program improved oncology staff nurses' and cancer coaches' confidence in 15 SMS microskills and has potential for SMS training of nurses in routine care.