Abstract
Background: Routine care for prevention and health promotion has reduced significantly due to the Covid-19 pandemic and mandatory social isolation measures. In this context, it is necessary to identify and describe Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) that provide opportunities for health education, promotion, and prevention aimed at the general population. The study is a systematic review of MOOCs on health education, health promotion, and prevention for the general population in a pandemic context. Methods: We developed a search for MOOC courses aimed at the general population on health education, health promotion, and prevention in different available MOOC platforms. We executed a descriptive analysis of the main characteristics of the selected MOOCs. Results: There were 117 MOOCs chosen on health education, promotion, and prevention for the general population. Coursera (40.3%) was the platform that offered the highest quantity of MOOCs; more than half of the MOOCs were in English (52.9%). The median (interquartile range) duration of the selected MOOCs was 11 (6–15) hours. The predominant themes were "Health promotion" (43%) and "Food and nutrition" (31%), and the origin was mainly from Europe (37.8%). Conclusions: MOOC offerings in health education are diverse, predominantly in English, of European origin, and in health promotion issues. This study opens an opportunity to multiply initiatives in different territories, considering other languages and topics more akin to each territorial reality, allowing it to be a more equitable learning opportunity in times of pandemic and compulsory social isolation.
Highlights
The eligibility criteria for selecting the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) were that they had content related to health education, and were aimed at the general population; further, we considered availability of registration/access at the time of the search
With the established search criteria, a total of 217 MOOC courses were found on the different platforms
The 117 MOOCs analyzed were classified into six groups according to their content, with themes such as “health promotion” and “food and nutrition”
Summary
In December 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic was triggered by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARSCov-2), revealing the fragility of the health systems of developing countries; as of February 1, 2021, the cases amounted were 134,228,450, with 2,229,565 deaths worldwide (COVID-19 Map - Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center) and the countries with the highest fatality due to COVID-19 are mostly low-middle-income countries (LMICs) with precarious health systems or those that have already collapsed.22Primary care service efforts have concentrated on containing the COVID-19 pandemic, for which there is a great concern about what could be neglected (OPS/OMS Perú - OPS/OMS Perú), reduction in access to medical doctors, drugs and growth monitoring during the lockdown period. disruptions in drug supply chains are likely associated with defaulters on immunization schedules, which may lead to future outbreaks of preventable diseases such as diphtheria. It has been estimated that maternal and child neglect in LMICs could be devastating in a context where maternal deaths could increase up to 60% and infant mortality up to 41%.5 The control of endemic infectious diseases, such as malaria, as well as chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as hypertension and diabetes, have been neglected or suspended, and there has been an increase in mental illnesses such as anxiety, depression, and suicide. there is a concern of the population to visit health systems for their routine care for fear of contagion. Against this, some countries implemented remote healthcare systems (teleconsultation) and health communication campaigns. Routine care for prevention and health promotion has reduced significantly due to the Covid-19 pandemic and mandatory social isolation measures. In this context, it is necessary to identify and describe Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) that provide opportunities for health education, promotion, and prevention aimed at the general population. The study is a systematic review of MOOCs on health education, health promotion, and prevention for the general population in a pandemic context. Methods: We developed a search for MOOC courses aimed at the general population on health education, health promotion, and prevention in different available MOOC platforms. This study opens an opportunity to multiply initiatives in different territories, considering other languages and topics more akin to each territorial reality, allowing it to be a more equitable learning opportunity in times of pandemic and compulsory social
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