Attitudes toward Web-based distance learning among public health nurses in Taiwan: a questionnaire survey.

BACKGROUND

Public health nurses (PHNs) often cannot receive in-service education due to limitations of time and space. Learning through the Internet has been a widely used technique in many professional and clinical nursing fields. The learner's attitude is the most important indicator that promotes learning.

OBJECTIVES

The purpose of this study was to investigate PHNs' attitude toward web-based learning and its determinants.

DESIGN

This study conducted a cross-sectional research design.

SETTINGS

369 health centers in Taiwan.

PARTICIPANTS

The population involved this study was 2398 PHNs, and we used random sampling from this population. Finally, 329 PHNs completed the questionnaire, with a response rate of 84.0%.

METHODS

Data were collected by mailing the questionnaire.

RESULTS

Most PHNs revealed a positive attitude toward web-based learning (mean+/-SD=55.02+/-6.39). PHNs who worked at village health centers, a service population less than 10,000, PHNs who had access to computer facility and on-line hardware in health centers and with better computer competence revealed more positive attitudes (p<0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

Web-based learning is an important new way of in-service education; however, its success and hindering factors require further investigation. Individual computer competence is the main target for improvement, and educators should also consider how to establish a user-friendly learning environment on the Internet.