Posted on: 29 October 2024
SPECTROM stands for Short-term Psycho-Education for Carers to help Reduce the Over Medication of people with intellectual disabilities. It is a training programme led by Imperial College London, UK and sponsored by CNWL.
You can find out more about it on the new website here - Spectrom
Although many support (care) staff currently receive some training on supporting distressed behaviours in adults with learning (intellectual) disabilities, it varies in quality. The SPECTROM training has recently been coproduced in the UK primarily for support staff but could be equally useful for other caregivers, such as family members and other professionals.
SPECTROM empowers staff by giving them detailed knowledge of psychotropic medication so they can challenge inappropriate prescribing. This may involve not prescribing psychotropics for behaviours that challenge in the first place and/or initiating a dose reduction and medication withdrawal if appropriate. Staff are taught instead how to address behaviours that challenge without using medication.
This training is also designed to empower people with learning disabilities and their families by involving them in shared decision-making for care planning, including prescribing. Staff are also taught how to effectively engage and communicate with people with learning disabilities and help them build their skills. Staff are also taught how to effectively engage with professionals like doctors, community team members, and family members. An important part of the training is to discuss how to support staff team members who are at the sharp end of service delivery.
SPECTROM provides a hybrid (blended learning) platform with many online resources backed by face-to-face training. There are 14 modules and internal and external resources. Two core modules presented through face-to-face training are (a) Medicine and (b) Alternatives to medicine (ATM).
The Department of Health (NIHR) funded all SPECTROM training projects. To date, around 14 large service provider organisations in the UK have participated in the SPECTROM programme.
For further information, contact Professor Shoumitro (Shoumi) Deb (s.deb@imperial.ac.uk), the chief investigator, or Ms Bharati Limbu (b.limbu@imperial.ac.uk), the project's research assistant.