Good Question

Good Question: mobile prompts to

assist in interviewing for decisional

capacity. For full, free, backup resources, go to our website Good-

Question.org

Dr Suzanne Conboy-Hill & Dr Elizabeth Scott-Gliba

ConboyHillScottGliba 2013

Contents

Page 3 Before you start

Page 4 The interview plan

Page 5 Asking the questions

Page 6 How did it go the positives?

Page 7 How did it go the negatives?

Page 8 Your decision

Page 9 Hints and tips

Page 10 Requirements for decisional

capacity

Page 11 About and link to website

Before you start

Put together or have to hand

1. Paper and pen

2. Information about what the

person was told of the

proposed procedure

3. Your list of headings to

prompt your probes

4. A place to sit that lets you

share your notes with your interviewee

Structuring the interview

1. Relax your interviewee with

introductions and purpose whats this about?

2. Let them know youll be writing

things down as you go.

3. Set the scene: Were here to talk about a given incident or procedure.

4. Uninterrupted account:

a. Tell me everything you

remember about b. Its ok if you dont

remember

5. DONT INTERRUPT!

6. Structured probes: You said that , tell me a bit more about , try to see it in your minds eye

7. Minding the gaps in consent

interviews: I see your doctor mentioned ., tell me a bit about that.

8. Anything else?

9. Build a good ending: what

happens next and when.

Asking the questions

Open non leading questions

Where.? What..? When..? Why..? How.? Tell me about.

Focused non leading questions

You said that.what was that about/how does that work?

You mentioned a ., tell me about that, whats it like, what does it do?

How did it go the positives?

The positives: What was the evidence

that 1. the interviewee had a general

understanding of the decision?

2. they knew why they needed to

make the decision? 3. they understood in general the

consequences of making the

decision?

4. they understood the consequences of not making the

decision?

5. they understood what would

happen if they didn't agree to

proceed? 6. they understood the information

they recalled?

7. they understood about risk - both

agreeing and not agreeing to proceed?

8. they were able to weigh up the

information they had recalled?

For instance, how far did they put the elements of recall together to

make the bigger picture?

How did they demonstrate these things?

Roughly how much of the necessary

information did they recall?

What was the balance, for you, of

really important items recalled and less

important items recalled? For instance, did they seem to recall a few very

important items or a lot of less critical

items?

How did it go? The

negatives: these make your

evidence unsafe

How many closed questions were

there?

How many closed leading questions

were there?

How many responses came from closed questions?

How many responses came from

leading questions?

How many responses came from closed

leading questions?

How often did you interrupt the interviewee?

How often did you give the interviewee

given additional information?

How often did you seem to break into a

silence?

Your decision

Recall of important information:

little moderate most

Understanding:


Big picture:


Unsafe:


Hints & tips

Ask open questions that dont have the answer in them and dont invite a yes no answer:

Why

What How

When

Where

Avoid

Closed Questions- if you can

answer Yes or No, its closed: o Was that the anaesthetic? o Did the social worker tell

you that?

o Can you tell me about ? Leading/misleading questions

where you know, or you think

you know, the answer. Most

closed questions are leading, if

not misleading.

Upgrading the answer where you substitute a better word. It might be completely wrong and it

makes the person feel wrong.

Teaching during the interview, it will interfere with your

interviewees own account. Alternatives and comparisons

Was it bigger/lighter/darker than ?

Stopping a leading question, just

leave the leading element unsaid:- So was that the time

when? Did you tell him about..? Was it the one in the..?

Requirements for

decisional capacity

Mental Capacity Act 2005

Does the person have a general understanding of what decision they

need to make and why they need to

make it? [US: Ability to understand

relevant information]

Does the person have a general understanding of the likely

consequences of making, or not making, this decision? [US: Ability to

appreciate the nature of the situation

and possible consequences]

Is the person able to understand, retain, use and weigh up the

information relevant to this decision?

[US: Ability to manipulate information

rationally]

Can the person communicate their decision (by talking, using sign

language or any other means)? [US: Ability to communicate a choice]

About

These pages summarise information on

our Good Question website so you

can use it on the hop in your day-to-

day work without need for or

distraction of a computer.

Dr Suzanne Conboy-Hill has been a

consultant clinical psychologist for

adults with intellectual disabilities since 1988 and modified the cognitive

interview for consent after researching

it for her Master's degree

in forensic psychology. She has

assessed a wide range of people for capacity, and trained social workers,

carers, doctors, nurses, clinical

researchers, and lawyers in the

technique since 1999. Her publication list is here and LinkedIn

profile here.

Dr Elizabeth Scott-Gliba is a clinical psychologist who

has specialised in eating disorders,

mental health,

and intellectual disabilities and trained i

n the Good Question technique with Dr Conboy-Hill. She has since

provided training to many groups of

multi-disciplinary professionals. Her

LinkedIn profile is here.

http://good-question.org/

These prompts are also published on

Ether Books, a mobile app for IOS and

Android smartphones.

Good Question

Documents

Transcript of Good Question