Other tools and outcome measures are either:
- indirect measures and only indicate difficulties rather than where the difficulties actually lie and what support would be helpful for them
- or only ask about a limited range of support needs
In contrast, the SNAP Tool comprises a comprehensive set of 15 evidence-based areas of support need and asks patients directly about those needs.
For use in practice, the SNAP Tool is integrated into an intervention to enable person-centred care that is health care professional facilitated but patient-led (the Support Needs Approach for Patients: SNAP).
By patient-led we mean that the patient has the opportunity to say what areas they need more support with, what are the most pressing concerns for them and what they feel would be supportive for them. Any support provided is therefore tailored to meet that patient’s individual needs.
Yes – but you need a licence.
The SNAP Tool is copyrighted. A licence is required for organisations using the tool:
- a licence is free of charge for health care professionals from non-commercial organisations.
To apply for a licence and/or access an inspection copy of the SNAP Tool, go to the “Licensing” page.
To secure a licence to use the SNAP Tool in clinical practice you will need to first complete the short, free to access, online SNAP training. Go to the “Training” page to access the training. Here you can also access short role play videos demonstrating SNAP.
Face-to-face training is also available – see the “Training” page.
Yes – but you need a licence.
The SNAP Tool is copyrighted. A licence is required for organisations using the tool:
- a licence is free of charge for researchers from non-commercial organisations.
To apply for a licence and/or access an inspection copy of the SNAP Tool, go to the “Licensing” page.
If your research is only using the SNAP Tool to identify areas of unmet support need in patients and is not being used by a health care professional in their clinical practice, then there is no requirement to complete the online SNAP training (although it can still be accessed and completed if you are interested).
However, if your research study is using the SNAP Tool to identify areas of unmet support need in patients and to address those needs (i.e. where health care professionals are delivering the SNAP intervention in clinical practice) then you, and the health care professionals delivering SNAP, will need to complete the short, free to access, online SNAP training. Go to the “Training” page to access the training.
Face-to-face training is also available – see the “Training” page.
The SNAP Tool is not an outcome measure. This is because the items (questions) refer to broad areas of support need, so each item is not a single ‘need’ a patient may have, but rather a question that can trigger thoughts about different types of need.
A patient may indicate a need for support in a particular area – e.g. dealing with feelings and worries – and may have ticked this item because they are feeling anxious about an upcoming clinical test. At a later date the same patient may tick the same item, but this time because they are worried about who will look after a pet if they are admitted to hospital.
So, if you used the tool at two points in time with the same patient it may look as though there has been no change and that their specific support need remains, but in fact the patient has different specific individual support needs at each time point.
However, the SNAP Tool can be used to identify areas of unmet support need in patients.
Patients and health care professionals have also told us that although the SNAP Tool was developed initially for patients with advanced COPD, the generic nature of items of the on tool suggest it is relevant for patients with a range of chronic, progressive or non-curative conditions e.g. heart failure, frail elderly, Parkinson’s Disease, stroke etc. This is probably because patients with chronic long-term conditions such as COPD have multiple co-morbidities, therefore the evidence on their support needs is unlikely to relate purely to their COPD but more likely to their support needs in general (and therefore related to all their conditions).
Further, the SNAP Tool does not include the term “COPD” or refer specifically to lung symptoms.
We are currently working with service users and clinicians to adapt the SNAP Tool for those with mental health conditions.
The SNAP Tool is currently available in English, Swedish and traditional Chinese. We welcome requests to translate the SNAP Tool into other languages. Some further translations of the SNAP Tool are underway – we will add information about translations to the website as they become available and will post news about translations on Twitter.
Please contact us if you are interested in translating the SNAP Tool linguistically and/or culturally.
The SNAP Tool is currently available as a downloadable document for printing, but we welcome requests to explore other formats. We will add information about other formats of the SNAP Tool to the website as they become available and will post news about new formats on Twitter.
Please contact us if you are interested in discussing new formats for the SNAP Tool.
Support needs are those aspects of managing life with a progressive condition with which patients need support, for example, support to manage their symptoms or support to access financial benefits.