Evaluation of QNIS CAN programme published

An evaluation of QNIS’ 2023 Complexity and Adversity Network (CAN) programme has been published in the international Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions. The evaluation demonstrated the value and impact of teaching relationally focused approaches to care for community nurses and midwives working in contexts of poverty and adversity.

The CAN workshops aimed to deepen participants' abilities to understand how a therapeutic healthcare relationship works, make sense of all the things that influence it, and figure out how to respond in ways that strengthen it. The workshops also sought to take explicit account of intersecting social adversities, such as homelessness, trauma, substance misuse, and intergenerational violence that are often more prevalent in communities facing socioeconomic deprivation.

Using relational approaches to care the CAN programme offered a clinically focused, highly accessible way for practitioners to make sense of their own emotional experiences at work, as well as strengthening their understanding of the emotional experiences of others: people seeking care, colleagues, managers, and even the emotional life of organisations.

The research evaluation demonstrated multiple positive outcomes. Statistically significant increases were observed in compassion satisfaction, self-awareness, and knowledge. Reductions were observed in burnout and secondary traumatic stress, and empathy toward people seeking healthcare increased.

Relational approaches are a focus of several QNIS professional development opportunities, and we are planning to launch some new workshops later this year. You can find out more about these on our website and our social media platforms.

*Photograph by members of Chance2Change, in partnership with Inclusive Images and Clydesider Creative, as part of a project commissioned by the Queen’s Nursing Institute Scotland and funded by the Burdett Trust for Nursing.

Chance2Change is a peer support group, which has also taken up an expert reference role (lived experience) for the Scottish Government Primary Care Health Inequalities Development Group. The group is based in Drumchapel, Glasgow and was first established in 2017 through a QNIS small grant awarded to a local practice nurse.

In 2023 the group was commissioned by QNIS to undertake photojournalism work exploring health inequalities. The topics included homelessness, grief, trauma, early deprivation and neglect, addiction, poverty, and physical ill health. These topics were all part of a professional development programme for community nurses and midwives, and Chance2Change produced some thought-provoking images to help us communicate our work.