Copyright: ©Author(s) 2026. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. No commercial re-use. See permissions. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc.
Integrating family values into antenatal consultations: An observational study on structured communication training curriculum for neonatal care providers
Deborah F Katurura, Camara Van Breemen, Nadine Lusney, Emily Kieran, Tom Wiebe, Susan Albersheim, Deepak Manhas, Maya Dahan, Sandesh Shivananda
Deborah F Katurura, Department of Pediatrics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver V6H 3V4, British Columbia, Canada
Camara Van Breemen, Department of Palliative Medicine, University of British Columbia, Canuck Place Children’s Hospice, BC Children’s Hospital, Vancouver, V6J 2T2, British Columbia, Canada
Nadine Lusney, Department of Applied Sciences-School of Nursing, University of British Columbia, Canuck Place Children’s Hospice, Vancouver V6J 2T2, British Columbia, Canada
Emily Kieran, Susan Albersheim, Deepak Manhas, Sandesh Shivananda, Department of Pediatrics, University of British Columbia, British Columbia Women’s Hospital and Heath Centre, Vancouver V6H 3V4, British Columbia, Canada
Tom Wiebe, Neonatal Program, BC Women’s Hospital and Health Centre, Vancouver V6H 3V4, British Columbia, Canada
Maya Dahan, Department of Pediatrics, University of Toronto, Toronto M4N 3M5, Ontario, Canada
Maya Dahan, Department of Newborn and Developmental Pediatrics, DAN Women and Babies Program, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto M4N 3M5, Ontario
Author contributions: Shivananda S and Dahan M conceptualized and designed the study; Van Breemen C, Lusney N, Dahan M, Albersheim S, Wiebe T and Shivananda S designed and/or revised the tools, and gathered data; Manhas D and Dahan M designed the workshop scenarios; Katurura DF collected data and wrote the original draft of the manuscript; and all authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Supported by The Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) Spread Quality Improvement (SQI) Program as per the Specialist Services Committee (SSC) guidelines.
Institutional review board statement: The Institutional Review Board has reviewed the above project and agrees that it is quality improvement/evaluation and does not require institutional review board review.
Informed consent statement: On behalf of all authors, I (corresponding author) would like to clarify that our observational study was part of a larger quality improvement project. When we approached our institutional review board, on our intent to publish this work, they attested that our study evaluation would come under quality improvement. As quality improvement initiatives do not warrant a consent from participants, we did not have an informed consent form in this study.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors report no financial or non-financial conflicts of interest related to this work.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement- checklist of items.
Data sharing statement: De-identified data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request and subject to institutional ethics and data governance approvals.
Corresponding author: Sandesh Shivananda, Associate Professor, FRCPC, Pediatrics, University of British Columbia, British Columbia Women’s Hospital and Heath Centre, 4500 Oak St, Vancouver V6H 3V4, British Columbia, Canada.
sandesh.shivananda@cw.bc.ca
Received: January 23, 2026
Revised: February 6, 2026
Accepted: March 3, 2026
Published online: June 9, 2026
Processing time: 118 Days and 11.5 Hours
BACKGROUND
Despite growing recognition of the importance of structured communication training, no formal curricula existed to equip neonatal-care providers with the skills needed to elicit and incorporate family values into antenatal consultations. A local review found that 80% of consult notes for anticipated extreme preterm births lacked documentation of family context, beliefs and values, with the absence of dedicated training identified as a key barrier.
AIM
To develop, implement and evaluate a structured, evidence-informed training curriculum in family values elicitation and integration during antenatal neonatal consults.
METHODS
Neonatal fellows took part in this prospective, single-center observational study (June to December 2024), which was part of a larger quality improvement initiative. The curriculum incorporated established communication strategies, including structured conversation aids, decision-making frameworks and simulative role-play reflecting both decision-making and non-decision-making scenarios. The team delivered a two-hour workshop, with participants completing pre- and post-workshop surveys assessing experience and perceived confidence in communication competencies.
RESULTS
Of the thirteen eligible fellows, eleven and one neonatologist took part; twelve completed the pre-workshop survey; ten completed the post-workshop survey. Over 90% agreed or strongly agreed that the workshop materials were user-friendly, relevant, and reflective of real-world scenarios. Participants reported significant improvements in perceived confidence across five targeted communication domains: Eliciting family values, leading shared decision-making conversations, addressing parental concerns, documentation practices, and integrating values into actionable care plans (P < 0.0001).
CONCLUSION
A contextually relevant training curriculum successfully enhanced neonatal trainees’ self-reported confidence in performing communication tasks in family values elicitation and integration during antenatal neonatal consults.
Core Tip: Antenatal consultations for families expecting extremely preterm births are critical opportunities to align care with family values. Our review of current practice revealed that key elements of family context and values are often missing during consultation and not documented. In response, we designed and implemented a structured, evidence-informed training curriculum to equip neonatal care providers with practical skills to elicit and integrate family values during antenatal consultations. Our study shows improvement in participants’ perceived confidence to conduct value-centred discussions using conversation aids and shared decision-making tools. This curriculum addresses a recognized educational gap and offers a reproducible framework for promoting family-centred care.
