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. 2024 Jun 12;13(1):2363550.
doi: 10.1080/28338073.2024.2363550. eCollection 2024.

Impact of Educational Activity Formats, Online or In-Person, on the Intention of Medical Specialists to Adopt a Clinical Behaviour: A Comparative Study

Gloria Ayivi-Vinz  1   2   3   4 , Martin Tremblay  5 , Souleymane Gadio  4 , Suélène Georgina Dofara  3   4 , Sam J Daniel  5 , Denis Talbot  1   6 , France Légaré  1   3   4   6
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Impact of Educational Activity Formats, Online or In-Person, on the Intention of Medical Specialists to Adopt a Clinical Behaviour: A Comparative Study

Gloria Ayivi-Vinz et al. J CME. .

Abstract

COVID-19 accelerated continuing professional development (CPD) delivered online. We aimed to compare the impact of in-person versus online CPD courses on medical specialists' behavioural intentions and subsequent behaviour. In this comparative before-and-after study, medical specialists attended in-person courses on nine clinical topics. A second group attended an adapted online version of these courses. Behavioural intention and its psychosocial determinants were measured before and immediately after the courses. Behaviour change was measured six months later. Generalised estimating equation (GEE) models were used to compare the impact of course formats. A total of 82/206 in-person registrants (mean age: 52±10 years; 50% men) and 318/506 on-line registrants (mean age: 49±12 years; men: 63%) participated. Mean intention before in-person courses was 5.99±1.31 and 6.43±0.80 afterwards (average intention gain 0.44, CI: 0.16-0.74; p=0.003); mean intention before online courses was 5.53±1.62 and 5.98±1.40 afterwards (average intention gain of 0.45, CI: 0.30-0.58; p<0.0001). Difference in intention gain between groups was not statistically significant. Behaviour reported six months later was not significantly associated with post-course intention in either group. However, the intention difference increased significantly among those who said they had adopted the targeted behaviour (paired wilcoxon test: n = 40 and p-value=0.002) while it did not increase significantly in the group of those who had not adopted a targeted behaviour (paired wilcoxon test: n = 16 and p-value=0.223). In conclusion, the increase in intention of specialists after CPD courses was similar whether the course was in-person or online. Also, an increase in intention in both groups signalled more likelihood of adoption.

Keywords: Online learning; continuing medical education; continuing professional development; distance education; in-person learning.

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Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors(s).

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Flow chart of study participants.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Box plots of psychosocial factors of intention.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Box plots of intention after course according to self-reported adoption or not of target behaviour at six-month follow-up.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Observed gain or loss of intention compared to self-reported behaviour six months after CPD course.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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References

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