Training psychiatric patients to discuss medication issues. Effects on patient communication and knowledge of medications.
Brief BST turns psychiatric inpatients into active partners who ask questions and stay engaged in their own care.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Dunlap et al. (1991) ran a randomized trial inside a psychiatric hospital. They split inpatients into two groups. One group got the new training. The other group only heard a short lecture.
The new program used Behavioral Skills Training. Patients watched a model, practiced asking questions, and got feedback. The goal was to help them talk with doctors about their pills.
What they found
Trained patients asked more questions during pill talks. Their chats with doctors lasted longer. Staff rated them as more assertive and more likely to follow orders.
The lecture-only group did not improve. Skills stuck around when doctors checked later.
How this fits with other research
Harper et al. (2023) used the same BST steps to train staff, not patients. They taught nurses and clinicians how to prep for team meetings. Both studies show BST lifts adult communication, no matter who is talking.
Gormley et al. (2019) went bigger. They gave one-day BST to 104 direct-care staff across many homes. Like the 1991 study, staff learned new skills and used them on the job. The 2019 trial proves BST scales beyond a single ward.
Laske et al. (2022) moved BST online. They coached adults through a webcam to speak better in public. Remote BST worked as well as the face-to-face pill talks in 1991. You no longer need a hospital room to run the package.
Why it matters
You can copy this brief BST package today. Pick any skill your clients need: asking questions, stating concerns, or refusing unsafe requests. Use the same four steps: tell, show, practice, feedback. Five to ten role-plays are often enough. Try it during intake, day program, or discharge planning. Better self-advocacy starts with a short rehearsal.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Psychiatric inpatients were randomly assigned to a medication-related communication skills program or to a control condition that consisted of a medication education program. The medication communication program emphasized learning to ask physicians questions about medications, to describe current problems, and to make relevant requests. Although patients in both groups improved their knowledge of medications, the medication communication skills program had the added impact of teaching patients to ask more questions of a doctor and to engage in longer conversations. Moreover, patients who completed the medication communication program were rated as more assertive, as having acquired more information about a new medication that was prescribed, as having greater social skill, as being more likely to be compliant with medication, and as having greater eye contact. These results suggest that the use of a medication-related communication skills program may be a somewhat novel and effective way to increase patient involvement in treatment and to facilitate the elicitation of information about the prescribed medication regimen.
Behavior modification, 1991 · doi:10.1177/01454455910151001