Making sense of self-reported practice impacts after online dementia education: the example of Bedtime to Breakfast and Beyond. Issue 3 (20th December 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Goodenough, Belinda; Watts, Jacqueline; Bartlett, Sarah
• Other Names: collab.
• Is Part Of: Brain impairment. Volume 21:Issue 3(2020)
• Page Start: 299
• Page End: 313
• Publication Date: 2020-12-20
• Subjects: dementia, -- online education, -- continuing professional education, -- knowledge translation, -- positively packed rating scales; Brain Diseases -- Congresses; Brain Diseases -- Periodicals; Brain -- Diseases -- Periodicals; 616.805
• DOI: 10.1017/BrImp.2020.19
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1443-9646

Abstract

Abstract: Objectives: To satisfy requirements for continuing professional education, workforce demand for access to large-scale continuous professional education and micro-credential-style online courses is increasing. This study examined the Knowledge Translation (KT) outcomes for a short (2 h) online course about support at night for people living with dementia ( Bedtime to Breakfast ), delivered at a national scale by the Dementia Training Australia (DTA). Methods: A sample of the first cohort of course completers was re-contacted after 3 months to complete a KT follow-up feedback survey ( n = 161). In addition to potential practice impacts in three domains (Conceptual, Instrumental, Persuasive), respondents rated the level of Perceived Improvement in Quality of Care (PIQOC), using a positively packed global rating scale. Results: Overall, 93.8% of the respondents agreed that the course had made a difference to the support they had provided for people with dementia since the completion of the course. In addition to anticipated Conceptual impacts (e.g., change in knowledge), a range of Instrumental and Persuasive impacts were also reported, including workplace guidelines development and knowledge transfer to other staff. Tally counts for discrete KT outcomes were high (median 7/10) and explained 23% of the variance in PIQOC ratings. Conclusions: Online short courses delivered at a national scale are capable of supporting a range of translation-to-practice impacts, within the constraints of retrospective insight into personal practice change. Topics around self-assessed knowledge-to-practice and the value of positively packed rating scales for increasing variance in respondent feedback are discussed.