Development and evaluation of a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) for healthcare professionals on malnutrition in older adults

Abstract

BackgroundEducation about malnutrition in older adults is often lacking in the curricula of healthcare professionals. Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are an innovative form of education that can potentially improve the knowledge of healthcare professionals. Objectives(1) to describe the development of a MOOC on malnutrition in older adults and (2) to evaluate the MOOC on the basis of knowledge gained. DesignThe MOOC was developed by following a structured approach. For the evaluation of the MOOC, a cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted. ParticipantsOverall, 1288 nurses, dietitians, medical doctors and other healthcare professionals participated in the evaluation study. MethodsAfter performing a comprehensive literature review, two dietitians specialised in geriatrics developed a summary of potentially important content of the MOOC. Nine European malnutrition experts from different professional areas were then asked to contribute their expertise. The specific MOOC content was developed based on the recent literature and evidence-based guidelines. For the evaluation of the MOOC, a questionnaire with 41 questions was developed. Results were analysed using descriptive statistics and chi-square tests. ResultsThe final MOOC consists of five modules with 15 learning videos and supplementary material. The percentage of persons with good malnutrition knowledge increased from 76.1 % to 89.9 % (p < 0.001), while the percentage of persons with fair or little malnutrition knowledge decreased (p < 0.001). The course significantly improved the participants' knowledge of specific malnutrition topics, namely, methods and instruments to determine the nutritional status of older people, interventions to improve oral intake, medical nutrition and multidisciplinary cooperation (p < 0.001). Overall, 91.5 % of the participants rated the quality of the course as very good or good. ConclusionMOOCs may be an effective tool that can be used to improve knowledge in healthcare professionals. This provides new opportunities for successful multidisciplinary malnutrition management in clinical practice.