Patient mindset training helps care teams

Primary health care teams participating in trainings on how to shape patient mindsets overwhelmingly felt the trainings were useful and supported care team members’ job satisfaction and their patients’ overall care, a study found. Researchers delivered the two-hour training and follow-up session to 186 staff members at Stanford Primary Care and at a primary care clinic within the Alameda Health System in California. The training included strategies and opportunities for shaping patient mindsets ─ such as seeing cancer as an opportunity instead of a catastrophe ─ and advice for communicating warmth and competence. Participants reported a better understanding of mindset, a greater appreciation for its influence and said they used it to converse with patients. The study was published in Patient Education and Counseling. (Newswise release, 2/23/24)