Browsing by Author "Gokpinar-Shelton, Esen"

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    The CoMac DescriptorTM and Psychosociolinguistic Tailored Communication to Promote Self-Management (TCPS) in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes
    (Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2016-04-08) Connor, Ulla; Gokpinar-Shelton, Esen
    Abstract: Estimates show that between 35-50% of patients with chronic conditions do not adhere to medical prescriptions. Lack of adherence to treatment plans results in poor clinical/patient outcomes, higher healthcare costs, and lost productivity. Adherence is connected to health literacy and health communication. Health literacy includes the ability to comprehend medical information and make decisions about healthy behaviors. Much of the focus on health literacy has been on reading and numeracy; however, in the clinic setting, health information is most often exchanged through provider-patient verbal communication. Verbal exchange of information includes speaking and listening. Linguistic tactics can be used to draw individuals’ attention to messages, selecting specific words, phrases, and style of communicating, informed by linguistics, can create a psychological closeness between the message and the audience. Increasing attention to oral messages should be a key strategy in health communication to promote adherence and self-management. This presentation describes the effectiveness and the practicality of an innovative psychosociolinguistic intervention tool, based on previous research in linguistic analysis of patient talk, the CoMac DescriptorTM and the subsequent psychosociolinguistically informed communication (Connor et al., 2012; Connor & Lauten 2014). As an interdisciplinary team of researchers from the International Center for Intercultural Communication (ICIC) at IUPUI, we have used the CoMac DescriptorTM, a 12-question survey, to identify and segment patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) based on patients’ psychosociolinguistic characteristics. We have then offered healthcare providers psychosociolinguistically informed communication, matching the linguistic styles of patients. We will share the key findings such as 1) patients’ and healthcare professionals’ overall satisfaction with the CoMac DescriptorTM and psychosociolinguistically informed communication; and 2) statistically significant relationship between the health behaviors and health outcomes of patients using the CoMac Descriptor and psychosociolinguistically informed communication.
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    Developing a targeted English-language curriculum and materials for Latino caregivers of infants with special needs as part of a NICU pre-discharge education program
    (Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2015-04-17) Connor, Ulla; Rodgers, Rylin; Traversa, Ana; Akers, Jennifer; Gokpinar-Shelton, Esen; Lorch, Matt
    Healthcare disparities in the Latino community are well documented; Latino infants with special healthcare needs are at high risk of mortality or poor health outcomes and have difficulty obtaining specialty care. Poor English-language skills add an additional layer of vulnerability. Existing health-related English-language curricula address adult, not pediatric health concerns. A clear need exists for short-term health-related English-language education programs to develop survival communication skills in low-literacy Limited English Proficiency (LEP) caregivers. International Center for Intercultural Communication (ICIC) and Family Voices Indiana (FVI) are collaborating to develop and facilitate a targeted English-language curriculum for LEP Latino caregivers of infants with special healthcare needs at Riley Children’s Hospital. ICIC brings expertise in English-for-Specific-Purposes (ESP) program development; FVI serves parents of children with special healthcare needs, including LEP parents, and brings the ability to make such a program meaningful and useful to our target population. The first stage of the project is currently ending, and has featured • Needs-analysis data collection onsite through the observation of current education modules with Latino parents at Riley Hospital as well as surveys of relevant healthcare providers and other hospital staff, followed by • The development of a curriculum, instructional materials, and pre-post intervention assessments based on the identified needs. The second stage will feature the actual intervention and will involve working with a minimum of six (6) low-literacy/low-proficiency caregivers to • Improve their health-related English for the specific purposes of communicating with their infants’ physicians and other healthcare staff while at Riley, • Facilitate communication after discharge, • Increase their readiness to engage in community ESL classes, and • Ensure eventual adaptability of the curriculum for ESL caregivers of various language backgrounds, stronger language or literacy skills, a variety of healthcare contexts, and the larger pediatric population. The post-intervention stage will feature data analysis with the purpose of assessing the viability of the curriculum and materials, and will lead to revisions. ICIC will also train FVI facilitators to offer the program to the population they serve. ICIC will then work with Indiana University Research and Technology Corporation (IURTC) to copyright and license the final curriculum and materials.
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    Developing a targeted English-language curriculum and materials for Latino caregivers of infants with special needs as part of a NICU pre-discharge education program
    (Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2016-04-08) Rueckert, Daniel; Gokpinar-Shelton, Esen
    Abstract: Latino infants with special healthcare needs are at high risk of mortality and have difficulty obtaining specialty care. Poor English-language skills of the caregivers add an additional layer of vulnerability. Existing health-related English-language programs address adult, but not pediatric health concerns. A clear need exists for short-term health-related English-language education programs to develop survival communication skills in low-literacy Limited English Proficiency (LEP) caregivers. To fill this need for intervention, the International Center for Intercultural Communication (ICIC) at IUPUI collaborated with Family Voices Indiana, a family advocacy group, and created a grant-funded series of classes to be taught in a one-on-one setting at Riley Hospital for Latino LEP parents of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) babies. The goal of the study is to provide these parents with the English language competency to take an active part in the medical decision making and care of their children. An additional goal of the program is to improve families' ability to enroll in local English as Second Language programs in the community. The findings will be discussed in three parts: We will first feature the needs-analysis period followed by the development of a curriculum, instructional materials, and pre-post intervention assessments based on the identified needs. Second, we will feature the actual intervention and will involve cases from working with low-literacy/low-proficiency caregivers. Third, we will discuss the post-intervention stage and feature data analysis with the purpose of assessing the viability of the curriculum and materials that would lead to revisions. The project is designed to ensure eventual adaptability of the curriculum for ESL caregivers of various language backgrounds, stronger language or literacy skills, a variety of healthcare contexts, and the larger pediatric population.