Authors (including presenting author) :
KAM KW(1)
Affiliation :
(1)Patient Resources Centre
Introduction :
In line with Strategic Direction of HA, Patient Resources Centre of TMH helps nurturing illness-based patient groups for supporting patients with similar disease-related challenges. A number of studies demonstrated the benefits of participating in patient groups, while patient group leaders / peer facilitators played an important role in determining the success of the support groups. Similar to some studies, many support group leaders or peer facilitators of TMH reflected that they did not receive trainings related to their role. Meanwhile, some studies showed that teaching support group facilitators on organising a support group, as well as how to manage group dynamics and difficult group members could increase the effectiveness of the group. As such, a survey for patient group leaders / peer facilitators in TMH was conducted to study their perceived training needs for guiding the training development.
Objectives :
This study was designed to identify training needs of patient group leaders / peer facilitators in TMH
Methodology :
A survey in the form of a self-administrated questionnaire was conducted from 14 June to 30 June 2019. A total of 45 questionnaires were distributed to patient group leaders / peer facilitators of all patient groups (15 groups) in TMH, three questionnaires for each group.
Result & Outcome :
32 questionnaires were returned from 11 patient groups, which included groups of DM, Stroke, Cardiac, Renal, Geriatric, Cancer, Haematology, Mental Health, ENT, Wound & Stoma, Children Health. From the survey result, 53% respondents did not receive any patient support and related training in the past 12 months. 72% considered the training provided by HA for patient group leaders / peer facilitators were “Not adequate”. Among these respondents, over 87% perceived that more trainings should be tailored for patient group leaders / peer facilitators. The rest suggested increasing the quota of training workshop. Regarding the type of training, they proposed trainings on patient group management, skills for organising committee meeting and advance communication skills should be organised.
To conclude, patient groups are becoming increasingly important as they provide an effective and potentially low-cost solution for supporting patients. This study identifies training needs of patient group leaders / peer facilitators and provides guidance on future training development in TMH.
