Implementation outcomes of a digital, trauma-informed care, educational intervention targeting health professionals in a paediatric burns setting: A mixed methods process evaluation

Megan Simons; Gillian Harvey; Lucinda McMillan; Elizabeth G Ryan; Alexandra G De Young; Steven M McPhail; Sanjeewa Kularatna; Sameera Senanayake; Roy Kimble; Zephanie Tyack

doi:10.1016/j.burns.2024.03.032

Implementation outcomes of a digital, trauma-informed care, educational intervention targeting health professionals in a paediatric burns setting: A mixed methods process evaluation

Burns. 2024 Apr 5:S0305-4179(24)00110-4. doi: 10.1016/j.burns.2024.03.032. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Occupational Therapy Department, Queensland Children's Hospital, Children's Health Queensland Hospital and Health Service, Queensland, Australia; Centre for Children's Burns and Trauma Research, Child Health Research Centre, The University of Queensland, Queensland, Australia. Electronic address: Megan.Simons@health.qld.gov.au.
² Australian Centre for Health Services Innovation and Centre for Healthcare Transformation, School of Public Health and Social Work, Queensland University of Technology, Queensland, Australia; Caring Futures Institute, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia.
³ Centre for Children's Burns and Trauma Research, Child Health Research Centre, The University of Queensland, Queensland, Australia.
⁴ QCIF Faculty for Advanced Bioinformatics, Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, Queensland, Australia; Centre for Health Services Research, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Queensland, Australia.
⁵ Centre for Children's Burns and Trauma Research, Child Health Research Centre, The University of Queensland, Queensland, Australia; School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Queensland, Australia; Queensland Centre for Perinatal and Infant Mental Health, Children's Health Queensland Hospital and Health Service, Queensland, Australia.
⁶ Australian Centre for Health Services Innovation and Centre for Healthcare Transformation, School of Public Health and Social Work, Queensland University of Technology, Queensland, Australia; Digital Health and Informatics Directorate, Metro South Health, Queensland, Australia.
⁷ Australian Centre for Health Services Innovation and Centre for Healthcare Transformation, School of Public Health and Social Work, Queensland University of Technology, Queensland, Australia.
⁸ Centre for Children's Burns and Trauma Research, Child Health Research Centre, The University of Queensland, Queensland, Australia; Australian Centre for Health Services Innovation and Centre for Healthcare Transformation, School of Public Health and Social Work, Queensland University of Technology, Queensland, Australia.

PMID: 38664169
DOI: 10.1016/j.burns.2024.03.032

Abstract

Trauma-informed care practices are associated with a culture of safety following traumatic experiences, including medical trauma. An interactive, web-based training package ('Responsive CARE') was developed for voluntary uptake by paediatric burns health professionals to increase staff knowledge about trauma-informed practice. This paper reports on a mixed methods process evaluation conducted alongside a preliminary effectiveness study of 'Responsive CARE'. The process evaluation was conducted using The Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) and a logic model, to examine feasibility of both the intervention and implementation strategy. Health practitioners (including senior managers) delivering care to children and caregivers attending an outpatient burns service were eligible to enrol in 'Responsive CARE'. Qualitative interview data and quantitative metadata were used to evaluate the implementation outcomes (adoption, acceptability, fidelity, feasibility and preliminary effectiveness). Children and caregivers attending an outpatient service for change of burn wound dressing or burn scar management during the 3-month control or 3-month intervention period were eligible to enrol in the effectiveness study. The impact on child pain and distress, as well as cost, was investigated using a pretest-posttest design. Thirteen (from anticipated 50 enrolled) health professionals (all female) with mean 10 years (SD=11) of experience with paediatric burns hospital-based outpatient care completed an average of 65% (range 36% to 88%) of available content. Twenty-five semi-structured interviews were completed with health practitioners (21 female) and with 14 caregivers (11 female). Four themes were identified as influencing feasibility and acceptability of the intervention: 1) Keeping a trauma-informed lens; 2) Ways of incorporating trauma-informed care; 3) Working within system constraints; and 4) Being trauma-informed. Preliminary effectiveness data included 177 participants (median age 2 years, and median total body surface area burn 1%). Causal assumptions within the logic model were unable to be fully tested, secondary to lower-than-expected adoption and fidelity. We found no significant difference for pain, distress and per-patient hospital care costs between groups (pre- and post-intervention). Future implementation strategies should include organizational support to keep a trauma-informed lens and to incorporate trauma-informed principles within a medical model of care. Despite efforts to co-design a staff education intervention and implementation approach focused on stakeholder engagement, adaptations are indicated to both the intervention and implementation strategies to promote uptake highlighting the complexity of changing clinician behaviours.

Keywords: Burns; Implementation science; Pediatrics; Process evaluation; Trauma-informed care.