ESPE Abstracts

Background: There is a need to increase digital health literacy in paediatric endocrinology due to the rapid emergence of digital technologies. Massive open online courses (MOOC) provide an opportunity to rapidly increase digital health capabilities at scale, as previously demonstrated in diabetes.1 To our knowledge, there are no comparable examples in the field of growth hormone deficiency.

Aim: This study evaluates the impact of a new MOOC launched in 2021 entitled ‘Telemedicine: Tools to Support Growth Disorders in a Post-COVID Era’ by comparing pre- and post-course assessment scores as well as comments received from learners.

Methods: Learners’ knowledge in the field was assessed with pre- and post- course surveys via the FutureLearn platform. Learners who completed all ten questions for both the pre- and post-course assessment were included in the analysis. Scores were evaluated by t-test to identify significant knowledge changes. All comments posted by learners on the course discussion forum were evaluated.

Results: By 17 December 2021, 219 learners had enrolled in the MOOC; 31 completed both the pre- and post-course assessments. Of these evaluated learners, 74% showed improved scores in the post-course assessment, resulting in a mean score increase of 21.25%. No learners achieved 100% in the pre-course assessment, while 12 learners (40%) achieved 100% in the post-course assessment. The highest score increase comparing pre- and post-assessments was 40% in 16% of learners. There was a statistically significant improvement in overall scores, rising from 58.1% ± 18.9% to 72.6 % ± 22.4% (P<0.0005) in the post-course assessment. Of the 132 comments analysed, 75 described an increase in knowledge, 39 stated that the course content was appropriate and 10 related to a positive impact on future learning and self-care. Some learners commented on the potential applicability of the course content to other therapeutic areas.

Conclusion: The MOOC multimodal eLearning model offers an innovative and successful channel to train large numbers of healthcare professionals. Digital health competencies gained included the management of growth disorders through e-health, research and evidence-based methods in eHealth, and e-health co-design. Our results indicate the value of MOOC digital learning to improve digital health literacy on a large scale.

Reference:

1. Wewer Albrechtsen NJ, et al. BMC Med Educ 17, 97 (2017).