How to Engage Clients and Caregivers in Their Care

While sitting in the doctor’s office, I found myself getting more and more anxious.

The amount of information being told to me at an increasing velocity was making my head spin. What was the complicated medication name they said I had to pick up and how many times a day do I have to take it?

Not only was I extremely fatigued, but stuffed up to the point where I felt like my head was a balloon about to float away. I was unable to think clearly, overtired, and looked like Rudolph because of how many times my nose had been blown.

Then I get handed 5 sheets of paper with all the instructions of what I’m supposed to do. And before I knew it I was in my car with all my stuff and didn’t remember anything that was said. It felt like it was all a dream.

This is a routine office visit for a simple sinus infection and it shows the barriers to receiving the important information and the speed at which patient education occurs. I looked over at the text on the sheet and I felt dizzy just looking through it. I had to read it a few times to understand what my next steps were. I made it through the second page before folding it into my purse, most likely not to be taken out until after I was feeling better and ready to tackle the world again.

I think about this common experience often when working with families as a pediatric occupational therapist. I observe their faces while I’m describing sensory processing to them. It is usually a lot of nodding but I can clearly see I’m doing them a disservice and not getting the point across. This complex topic is not for the faint of heart. As I reflected on how even the instructions for how to handle my cold were too much for me, I knew there had to be a better way.

When I started pairing my caregiver education with diagrams and visuals, I found I was bringing the parent along with me. They were more engaged, leaning forward, and asking questions that sent me back to the computer at the end of the night. I noticed this shift more and more as I thought back to how learning styles impact so much about how we understand information. Personally, it was only late in college that I figured out my learning style. Somehow I got by up until then. I realized I needed to draw any new information out kinesthetically into a visual or else the information was lost and over my head. It is important for us to attempt to understand the learning styles of those we are engaging with or use multi-modal ways (e.g. auditory, visual, teach-back) of sharing information as a potential “universal precaution” for helping others understanding the health information needed for them to get better or manage their care.

I hope this common experience and story shows going beyond verbally sharing information and using effective tools that cater to the person’s learning style is crucial for patient education and engagement in therapy. 

Here are the examples of ways I’ve supported the client/family to help them stay engaged and understand the information I was sharing with them:

1. Ask your client or caregiver what way they learn best (hearing the information, seeing a picture, watching a video, etc). If they’re really interested in this use this quiz: https://vark-learn.com/the-vark-questionnaire/

2. See if online materials or resources have already been created. Then keep a folder of the ones that are the most helpful so you can return to them

3. Limit the use of a lot of text on a page

4. Share videos of examples if you find they are having difficulty. I haven’t met one person where this does not help yet!

5. Share graphics of the home program or education you want to share

   Here are a few examples of ones I have done:
   

Simple:

Fancy: 

Additional Ideas of Resources and Strategies:

1. Problem-solve alongside the family to figure out ways to incorporate the activities to strategies into their daily activities 

   • Applying it to their context can reinforce learning and they might come up with other better options by knowing their own context best

2. Brochures or other printed materials

3. Podcasts

4. YouTube videos

5. Videos or DVDs

6. PowerPoint presentations

7. Posters or charts

8. Models or props

9. Group classes

When in doubt, combining a few of these works best!

Check out this amazing organization, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, that put together some great resources on this topic of health literacy and patient education.

“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn” -Benjamin Franklin.

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