Division of Global Health (IHCAR), Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
BMC Med Educ. 2010 Feb 2;10:11. doi: 10.1186/1472-6920-10-11.
Peer education is an interactive method of teaching or learning which is widely used for educating school and college students, in a variety of different forms. However, there are few studies on its effectiveness for in-service education. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of an educational programme including peer discussions, based on a needs assessment, on the providers' knowledge and reported performance in family planning services.
An educational programme was designed and applied in a random selection of half of in-charges of the 74 family health units (intervention group) in Tabriz at a regular monthly meeting. The other half constituted the control group. The programme included eight pages of written material and a two-hour, face-to-face discussion session with emphasis on the weak areas identified through a needs assessment questionnaire. The educated in-charges were requested to carry out a similar kind of programme with all peers at their health facilities within one month. All in-charges received one self-administered questionnaire containing knowledge questions one month after the in-charge education (follow-up I: 61 responses), and another one containing knowledge and self-reported performance questions 26 months later (follow-up II: 61 responses). Also, such tests were done for the peers facilitated by the in-charges one (105 responses) and 27 months (114 responses) after the peer discussions. Multiple linear regression was used for comparing mean total scores, and Chi square for comparing proportions between control and intervention groups, after defining facility as the unit of randomization.
The mean total percentage scores of knowledge (percent of maximal possible score) in the intervention group were significantly higher than in the control group, both at follow-up I (63%) and at follow-up II (57%); with a difference of 16 (95% CI: 11, 22) and 5 (95% CI: 0.4, 11) percentage units, respectively. Only two of the nine reported performance items were significantly different among the non in-charges in the intervention group at follow-up II.
The educational programme including peer discussions using existing opportunities with no need for additional absence from the workplace might be a useful complement to formal large group education for the providers.
同伴教育是一种互动式的教学或学习方法，广泛用于以各种不同形式教育学校和大学生。然而，针对在职教育的效果，相关研究甚少。本研究旨在评估基于需求评估的同伴讨论为基础的教育计划对计划生育服务提供者的知识和报告绩效的影响。
在每月例会中，我们以随机方式选择泰伯兹的 74 个家庭健康单位中的一半（干预组）的负责人参加一项教育计划。另一半构成对照组。该计划包括八页书面材料和两小时的面对面讨论，重点是通过需求评估问卷确定的薄弱环节。接受教育的负责人被要求在一个月内与所有同行在他们的医疗设施中开展类似的计划。所有负责人在主管教育后一个月内（随访 I：61 份回应）和 26 个月后（随访 II：61 份回应）都收到一份包含知识问题的自我管理问卷。此外，在同伴讨论后一个月（105 份回应）和 27 个月（114 份回应），也对负责人促成的同伴进行了此类测试。在定义设施为随机分组单位后，我们使用多元线性回归比较总得分的平均值，使用卡方检验比较对照组和干预组的比例。
干预组的知识总得分（最大可能得分的百分比）在随访 I（63%）和随访 II（57%）时均显著高于对照组，分别相差 16（95%CI：11，22）和 5（95%CI：0.4，11）个百分点。在随访 II 中，干预组的非负责人中仅有两项报告绩效项目有显著差异。
使用现有的机会而无需额外缺勤的包括同伴讨论的教育计划可能是提供者正规大组教育的有益补充。
