Quantitative participant characteristics.

BackgroundReceiving a diagnosis of congenital anomalies in the first 1000 days of life can have significant implications for a family’s emotional and mental wellbeing. We refer to this as different news. We evaluated a communications skills training to improve how healthcare professionals deliver different news using a train-the-trainer (Champions) model.MethodsWe recruited 22 healthcare professionals from 6 NHS trusts in England and trained them as Champions. They delivered 17 training sessions to healthcare professional colleagues. Data were collected on knowledge, skills and attitudes to different news communication using a bespoke questionnaire and the Self-Efficacy Scale (SE-12) at pre-training, straight after training and four weeks post-training. We conducted 19 interviews with healthcare professionals, four managers and eight parents. Data were analysed using Framework analysis guided by the Theoretical Domains Framework.ResultsA total of 204 healthcare professionals completed pre-training questionnaires, 187 completed post-training questionnaires immediately after training, and 109 completed the questionnaires four weeks post-training. A total of 179 healthcare professionals completed the SE-12 scale immediately after training and 102 completed it at four weeks follow-up. The training improved healthcare professionals’ confidence and skills to deliver different news. There were statistically significant differences in confidence levels between pre-/post-training SE-12 scores in delivering different news. Scores were significantly higher post-training. The estimated difference in mean scores post-training was 18.3 (95% confidence interval 15.7–20.9 p ConclusionsThe results suggest that the training equips healthcare professionals to deliver different news to families sensitively and compassionately which can potentially prevent mental ill-health across the life course.