The Impact of a Web-Based Course Concerning Patient Education for Mental Health Care Professionals: Quasi-Experimental Study.

Anna Laine,Virve Pekurinen,Maritta Välimäki,Eliisa Löyttyniemi,Minna Anttila,Mauri Marttunen

doi:10.2196/11198

Abstract

BackgroundContinuing education has an important role in supporting the competence of health care professionals. Although Web-based education is a growing business in various health sectors, few studies have been conducted in psychiatric settings to show its suitability in demanding work environments.ObjectiveWe aimed to describe the impact of a Web-based educational course to increase self-efficacy, self-esteem, and team climate of health care professionals. Possible advantages and disadvantages of the Web-based course are also described.MethodsThe study used nonrandomized, pre-post intervention design in 1 psychiatric hospital (3 wards). Health care professionals (n=33) were recruited. Self-efficacy, self-esteem, and team climate were measured at 3 assessment points (baseline, 8 weeks, and 6 months). Possible advantages and disadvantages were gathered with open-ended questions at the end of the course.ResultsOur results of this nonrandomized, pre-post intervention study showed that health care professionals (n=33) had higher self-efficacy after the course, and the difference was statistically significant (mean 30.16, SD 3.31 vs mean 31.77, SD 3.35; P=.02). On the other hand, no differences were found in the self-esteem or team climate of the health care professionals before and after the course. Health care professionals found the Web-based course useful in supporting their work and relationships with patients. The tight schedule of the Web-based course and challenges in recruiting patients to use the patient education program with health care professionals were found to be the disadvantages.ConclusionsWeb-based education might be a useful tool to improve the self-efficacy of health care professionals even in demanding work environments such as psychiatric hospitals. However, more studies with robust and sufficiently powered data are still needed.

Highlights

BackgroundMental health settings are demanding work environments for health care professionals [1,2]
Health care professionals chose all options for internet use that were related to them
4 health care professionals used the internet for music streaming, searching for information on public transportation, discussion purposes, or for work

Summary

Introduction

BackgroundMental health settings are demanding work environments for health care professionals [1,2]. Objective: We aimed to describe the impact of a Web-based educational course to increase self-efficacy, self-esteem, and team climate of health care professionals. Results: Our results of this nonrandomized, pre-post intervention study showed that health care professionals (n=33) had higher self-efficacy after the course, and the difference was statistically significant (mean 30.16, SD 3.31 vs mean 31.77, SD 3.35; P=.02). Health care professionals found the Web-based course useful in supporting their work and relationships with patients. The tight schedule of the Web-based course and challenges in recruiting patients to use the patient education program with health care professionals were found to be the disadvantages. Conclusions: Web-based education might be a useful tool to improve the self-efficacy of health care professionals even in demanding work environments such as psychiatric hospitals. Internet/computer skills were evaluated in an item with a 5-point Likert scale: “Your computer/internet-skills are” (1=very good to 5=very poor), whereas attitudes against the computer/internet were examined using an item with another 5-point Likert scale (1=very positive to 5=very negative)

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