VAlidation of the Mcast CommunicAtion Screening Tool (VAMCAST) v1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
VAlidation of the Mcast CommunicAtion Screening Tool (VAMCAST): improving patient access to communication support during mental capacity assessments.
IRAS ID
322534
Contact name
Mark Jayes
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 11 months, 28 days
Research summary
The Mental Capacity Act (2005) says that healthcare staff need to help patients to make decisions. Patients who have communication problems due to conditions such as a stroke need specific help. The law says staff need to make information about decisions easier to understand. Staff also need to help patients to talk about decisions more easily. Research shows that many staff do not know how to help these patients to make decisions. This project aims to help staff to support patients with communication problems to make decisions.
We have developed a new communication test. The aim of the test is to show staff when a patient has communication problems and how to help the patient to make a decision. The test also tells staff when to ask a speech and language therapist for help. We need to do this research to find out if the test gives correct results and if staff can use it accurately.
We will ask 100 people living at home to take the communication test. These people will be stroke survivors. Some will have communication problems. We will make videos of people taking the test.
We will check the test gives the correct result for each person by:
•comparing the results with other communication tests;
•comparing the results with a speech and language therapist's expert opinion;
•using the test twice, to check it gives the same results at different times;
•checking the test gives the same results when different people use it.We will check staff can use the test accurately with patients by:
•watching how 15 healthcare staff use the test with 75 stroke survivors in hospital;
•interviewing staff about how they used the test;
•making changes to the test instructions;
•checking that staff can follow the new instructions more accurately.When the research is over, we will make the test freely available to healthcare staff.
REC name
London - Brighton & Sussex Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/LO/0099
Date of REC Opinion
24 Feb 2023
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion