Training of Nurse Interventionists to Optimize Intervention Fidelity in a Telehealth Pilot Study.

Abstract

Interventionist training and on-going guidance by the research team are essential in psychosocial interventional research to ensure fidelity. Consistency in delivering an intervention requires recruiting interventionists with well-aligned clinical experience, developing a replicable training process, and reassessing ongoing intervention fidelity using an assessment tool of observable behaviors that are essential to the intervention. This paper describes one research team's experience of hiring and training nurse interventionists to deliver a theory-based, telehealth psychosocial intervention for a single-arm pilot study. The training methods used to foster the nurses' integration of theory into intervention delivery are discussed, along with approaches adopted to optimize and measure fidelity. The research team and interventionist trainees in this pilot study overcame learning challenges through establishing mutual trust and promoting effective communication throughout the training process. Fostering connections between cognitive and affective learning during the nurse interventionists' training was critical to establishing and maintaining intervention fidelity.