Communication with young people in paediatric and adult endocrine consultations: an intervention development and feasibility study

BACKGROUND: Communication is complex in endocrine care, particularly during transition from paediatric to adult services. The aims of this study were to examine the feasibility of interventions to support young people to interact with clinicians. METHODS: Development and evaluation of a complex intervention in 2 phases: Pre-intervention observational study; Intervention feasibility study. Purposive sample of recordings of 62 consultations with 58 young people aged 11–25 years with long-term endocrine conditions in two paediatric and two adult endocrine clinics. Proportion of time talked during consultations, number and direction of questions asked; Paediatric Consultation Assessment Tool (PCAT); OPTION shared decision making tool; Medical Information Satisfaction Scale (MISS- 21). Young people were invited to use one or more of: a prompt sheet to help them influence consultation agendas and raise questions; a summary sheet to record key information; and the www.explain.me.uk website. RESULTS: Nearly two thirds of young people (63%) chose to use at least one communication intervention. Higher ratings for two PCAT items (95% CI 0.0 to 1.1 and 0.1 to 1.7) suggest interventions can support consultation skills. A higher proportion of accompanying persons (83%) than young people (64%) directed questions to clinicians. The proportion of young people asking questions was higher (84%) in the intervention phase than in the observation phase (71%). CONCLUSIONS: Interventions were acceptable and feasible. The Intervention phase was associated with YP asking more questions, which implies that the availability of interventions could promote interactivity.