Effects of specified performance criterion and performance feedback on staff behavior: a component analysis

Area of Science:

• Behavioral Health
• Healthcare Staff Training
• Clinical Communication

Background:

• Effective communication between direct care staff and clinicians is crucial in inpatient behavioral units.
• Existing staff training interventions often lack component analysis to determine efficacy.
• Protocol review quizzes were developed to assess staff knowledge of patient behavioral protocols.

Purpose of the Study:

• To isolate the effects of specific staff training intervention components on communication.
• To increase clinician adherence to scoring and discussing daily protocol reviews with direct care staff.
• To identify the most effective intervention for improving protocol review completion rates.

Main Methods:

• A baseline assessment measured initial clinician adherence to protocol review requirements (21%).
• Interventions included in-service training, reduced response effort with prompting, and specified performance criteria with feedback.
• A component analysis evaluated the necessity of performance criteria and contingencies for sustained performance.

Main Results:

• In-service training (15%) and reduced effort interventions (28%) did not significantly improve clinician adherence.
• The intervention combining specified performance criteria and performance feedback resulted in 86% clinician goal achievement.
• Both performance criteria and supporting contingencies were essential for maintaining high performance levels.

Conclusions:

• Performance feedback and specified criteria are highly effective in improving clinician engagement with protocol reviews.
• Targeted behavioral interventions are superior to general training or effort reduction for enhancing clinical communication.
• This study highlights the importance of performance contingencies in maintaining adherence to critical clinical processes.