Communication and Behavioural Change in Dentistry - A Collaborative Approach

Effective communication skills in dentistry are at the heart of excellent patient centred clinical care, and are reflected in the second principle standard in the General Dental Council Standards.  The Dental Directorate in NHS Education for Scotland has been collaborating with the Psychology Directorate in NHS Education for Scotland as well as colleagues from the University of Glasgow, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and NHS Tayside on a range of training ventures in this area, with the aim of complementing the existing skill set of dentistry staff.  Some of the recent updates include the following:

Health Behaviour Change Updates

A Health Behaviour Change working group has met regularly, for teaching staff working in NES, NHS Boards, and in collaboration with the University of Glasgow.  The aim of the group is to discuss how various NES health behaviour change education and training resources can be applied in the Boards and Partnership/University areas.  The MAP Health Behaviour Change Learning programme has been adapted for Oral Health Settings and piloting options are being considered.  The AsSET Health Behaviour Change course has also been adapted for dentistry settings and has been delivered to cohorts of Dental Core Trainees.  Motivational interviewing videos have been developed which can be used in dental trainings.  The Dental Recur training materials have been shared for use within NES and piloting options are currently being considered.

Trauma Updates

Trauma Informed Practice Training for the Dental Team sessions have been running in the Dundee Dental Hospital for 18 months, and more recently training sessions have also been rolled out in the Glasgow Dental Hospital.  These sessions are delivered by a multi-professional team from Psychology and Dentistry, in collaboration with staff from the University of Glasgow, and are available to all cohorts of staff.  Early feedback has been extremely positive, and a rolling programme of dates is now in place, with the aim of training all clinical staff to trauma-skilled level, and all support staff to trauma-informed.  Work is ongoing to find the most effective way of evaluating the impact of this training on both the patient experience and on staff wellbeing.

Staff from the NES Psychology Directorate, alongside staff from the Glasgow Dental Hospital and School, and staff from GGC, presented at a webinar on Dental Neglect in Children and Young People hosted by Celcis and Child Protection Committees Scotland.  Around 220 attendees learned about the impact of psychological trauma and how this can create significant barriers to accessing dental care for families, how trauma may present in dental settings, and how we can all use trauma-informed practice principles to help families to feel safe when engaging with their dental teams and getting the support they need.

Useful Resources

Astley Ainslie Psychological Skills Training (AsSET)

The MAP of Health Behaviour Change Learning Programme (Health Improvement Workstream)

Procedural Distress E-Learning Module (Paediatric Psychology Workstream)

Transforming Psychological Trauma (Trauma Workstream)

Motivational Interviewing Elearning Modules (Psychological Interventions and Therapies in Adult Mental Health Workstream)