An Experimental Evaluation of HyperCDTX

Abstract

ABSTRACT Nurses and social workers are often the first health care providers to encounter patients entering the health care system. Content specific to assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of substance abuse has long been neglected in the curricula of nursing and social work. A joint endeavor between faculty and graduate students in social work, nursing, and computer science resulted in the development of a hypermedia, interactive computer program, HyperCDTX, for the conveyance of knowledge and training of skills in assessment, diagnosis, and treatment in substance abuse. This study tested HyperCDTTs instructional efficacy and measured changes in subjects' attitudes and beliefs about computer based education. Seventy-three graduate and undergraduate students in social work and nursing participated in an evaluation of HyperCDTX that used a modified pretest-post control group experimental design. The results indicated no differences between the control and experimental groups in knowledge and skills of substance abuse treatment. This finding was confounded by the fact that despite the use of random assignment, the control group had significantly more graduate students, years of education, and years of social work experience. Subjects had a significant change in their attitudes and beliefs about value of computer based education in their professions as a result of using HyperCDTX Additionally, subjects offered strong support for the ease of use, “user friendliness,” understandability, and accessibility of information contained in HyperCDTX. The findings of this study demonstrate the complexity involved in the evaluation of hypermedia, interactive software using an experimental design in a laboratory setting. Despite this fact, participants' evaluation of the software support its potential value in substance abuse treatment education.