Faculty of Health, Education and Society, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth, Devon, PL4 8AA, UK.
BMC Med Educ. 2012 May 31;12:37. doi: 10.1186/1472-6920-12-37.
Professionals are interested in using e-health but implementation of new methods is slow. Barriers to implementation include the need for training and limited awareness or experience. Research may not always convince mental health professionals (MHPs). Adding the 'voice' of mental health service users (MHSUs) in collaborative learning may help. Involving MHSUs in face-face education can be difficult. We had previously been unable to engage MHPs in online discussion with MHSUs. Here we assessed the feasibility of short online courses involving MHSUs and MHPs.
We ran three e-health courses, comprising live interactive webcast, week's access to a discussion forum, and final live interactive webcast. We recruited MHPs via posters, newsletters, and telephone from a local NHS trust, and online via mailing lists and personal contacts from NHS trusts and higher education. We recruited MHSUs via a previous project and an independent user involvement service. Participants were presented with research evidence about e-health and asked to discuss topics using professional and lived experience. Feasibility was assessed through recruitment and attrition, participation, and researcher workloads. Outcomes of self-esteem and general self-efficacy (MHSUs), and Internet self-efficacy and confidence (MHPs) were piloted.
Online recruiting was effective. We lost 15/41 from registration to follow-up but only 5/31 that participated in the course failed to complete follow-up. Nineteen MHPs and 12 MHSUs took part and engaged with each other in online discussion. Feedback was positive; three-quarters of MHPs indicated future plans to use the Internet for practice, and 80% of MHSUs felt the course should be continued. Running three courses for 31 participants took between 200 to 250 hours. Before and after outcome measures were completed by 26/31 that participated. MHP Internet self-efficacy and general Internet confidence, MHSU self-esteem and general self-efficacy, all seemed reliable and seemed to show some increase.
Collaborative learning between MHSUs and MHPs in a structured online anonymous environment over a one-week course is feasible, may be more practical and less costly than face-face methods, and is worthy of further study.
专业人士对使用电子医疗很感兴趣，但新方法的实施进展缓慢。实施的障碍包括培训的需求以及意识或经验有限。研究并不总能说服心理健康专业人员（MHPs）。在协作学习中加入心理健康服务使用者（MHSUs）的“声音”可能会有所帮助。让 MHSUs 参与面对面的教育可能会很困难。我们之前无法让 MHPs 与 MHSUs 在线讨论。在这里，我们评估了涉及 MHSUs 和 MHPs 的短期在线课程的可行性。
我们开设了三门电子医疗课程，包括现场互动网络直播、一周的讨论论坛访问和最后一次现场互动网络直播。我们通过当地 NHS 信托的海报、时事通讯和电话以及 NHS 信托和高等教育机构的邮件列表和个人联系招募 MHPs。我们通过之前的项目和独立的用户参与服务招募 MHSUs。参与者被提供有关电子医疗的研究证据，并被要求使用专业和生活经验讨论主题。通过招募和流失率、参与度和研究人员工作量评估可行性。对自尊和一般自我效能感（MHSUs）以及互联网自我效能感和信心（MHPs）的结果进行了试点。
在线招募是有效的。我们从注册到随访失去了 15/41 人，但只有 5/31 名参加课程的人未能完成随访。19 名心理健康专业人员和 12 名心理健康服务使用者参加了课程，并在线上进行了互动讨论。反馈是积极的；四分之三的心理健康专业人员表示未来计划将互联网用于实践，80%的心理健康服务使用者认为该课程应该继续进行。为 31 名参与者开设三门课程需要 200 到 250 个小时。有 31 名参与者中的 26 名完成了课前和课后的结果测量。心理健康专业人员的互联网自我效能感和一般互联网信心、心理健康服务使用者的自尊和一般自我效能感似乎都很可靠，并且似乎有所提高。
在结构化的在线匿名环境中，MHSUs 和 MHPs 之间进行为期一周的协作学习是可行的，可能比面对面的方法更实际且成本更低，值得进一步研究。
