Post doc project
Background: The Cultural Formulation Interview (CFI), published in DSM-5 in 2013, was developed to improve culturally-informed, medical communication and person-centered care between patients and providers. The Norwegian version was published in 2015 with funding from the Norwegian Directorate of Health and coordinated through Innlandet Hospital Trust (ROP and RPS), and the National Centre for Minority Research (NAKMI).
Purpose: The study is the first to test the CFI in Norwegian clinical contexts. The purpose is to explore how the CFI as a semi-structured cultural interview impacts medical communication and person-centered care between patients and providers. The research aims are: (1) to examine how the CFI affects medical communication from patient’s and clinician’s perspectives, (2) to explore whether certain communication functions elicited through the CFI could be linked to patient’s and clinician’s cultural meaning frameworks in relation to explanations of health and illness and to their culturally-influenced approach differences, and (3) to assess how communication functions elicited through the CFI relate to feasibility, acceptability, and clinical utility.
Method: This Evaluation and Efficacy Study of the CFI will encompass three clinical context areas: rehabilitation, addiction, and dementia. Hernes Institute, which is a rehabilitation unit for patients with musculoskeletal problems, was included in Jan 2017. The dementia context, being represented by the assessment unit in Innlandet Hospital Trust (C3), will be included in Jan 2018. The addiction context is represented by the assessment unit in Innlandet Hospital Trust, the unit being a part of the Interdisciplinary Specialized Addiction Treatment (TSB) section.
The method comprises nine stages, including CFI training for staff, CFI interviews with staff and patients, evaluation of the CFI interview itself as a clinical tool, as well as assessment of efficacy: feasibility, acceptability and utility in the actual treatment process.
Results, applications: The study will be a contribution to clinical patient-oriented and multidisciplinary research both locally and nationally. At the Innlandet Hospital Trust it will contribute to cooperation between research environments, and utilize networking opportunities in collaboration with national as well as international research environments. As the pioneering Norwegian study with the CFI, future research as well as training programmes incorporating the CFI will be based at the Innlandet Hospital Trust.
Project leader: Valerie DeMarinis, Professor
Post Doc: Sigrid Helene Kjørven Haug, PhD
Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences / Innland Hospital Trust
Publications