Evaluation of population health short courses: implications for developing and evaluating population health professional development initiatives

Lucio Naccarella; Louise Greenstock; Iain Butterworth

doi:10.1071/py14140

Evaluation of population health short courses: implications for developing and evaluating population health professional development initiatives

Australian Journal of Primary Health ◽

10.1071/py14140 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 22 (3) ◽

pp. 218

Author(s):

Lucio Naccarella ◽

Louise Greenstock ◽

Iain Butterworth

Keyword(s):

Professional Development ◽

Population Health ◽

Well Being ◽

Realist Evaluation ◽

Metropolitan Region ◽

System Level ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Short Course ◽

Short Courses ◽

Evaluation Approaches

Population health as an approach to planning is key to improving the health and well-being of whole populations and to reduce inequities within and between population groups. The Victorian Department of Health North and West Metropolitan Region, in collaboration with The University of Melbourne (School of Population Health), have delivered four annual population health short courses. The short courses were designed to equip participants with knowledge and skills to implement population health approaches upon their return to their workplaces. For three consecutive years, online surveys (n=41) and semi-structured interviews (n=35), underpinned by participatory and realist evaluation approaches, were conducted to obtain the perceptions and experiences of the population health short course participants. Evaluation findings indicate that participants’ understanding of population health concepts increased; however, there were mixed outcomes in assisting participants’ implementation of population health approaches upon their return to their workplaces. A core list of perceived requirements, enablers and barriers emerged at an individual, organisational and system level as influencing the capability of participants to implement population health approaches. Evaluation recommendations and actions taken to revise short course iterations are presented, providing evidence that the evaluation approaches were appropriate and increased the use of evaluation learnings. Implications of evaluation findings for professional development practice (i.e. shift from a ‘Course’ as a one-off event to a Population Health ‘Program’ of inter-dependent components) and evaluation (i.e. participatory realist evaluation approaches) are presented.

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Transforming health professionals into population health change agents

Journal of Public Health Research ◽

10.4081/jphr.2016.643 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Lucio Naccarella ◽

Iain Butterworth ◽

Timothy Moore

Keyword(s):

Professional Development ◽

Transformative Learning ◽

Population Health ◽

Professional Education ◽

Health Professionals ◽

Change Agents ◽

Realist Evaluation ◽

Department Of Health ◽

Short Courses ◽

Evaluation Approaches

Background. With the recognition that professional education has not kept pace with the challenges facing the health and human service system, there has been a move to transformative education and learning professional development designed to expand the number of enlightened and empowered change agents with the competence to implement changes at an individual, organisation and systems level. Design and Methods. Since 2010, the Department of Health and Human Services in Victoria, Australia, in collaboration with The University of Melbourne’s School of Population and Global Health, has delivered seven population health short courses aimed to catalyse participants’ transformation into population health change agents. This paper presents key learnings from a combination of evaluation data from six population health short courses using a transformative learning framework from a 2010 independent international commission for health professionals that was designed to support the goals of transformative and interdependent health professionals. Participatory realist evaluation approaches and qualitative methods were used. Results. Evaluation findings reveal that there were mixed outcomes in facilitating participants’ implementation of population health approaches, and their transformation into population health agents upon their return to their workplaces. Core enablers, barriers and requirements, at individual, organisational and system levels influence the capability of participants to implement population health approaches. The iterative and systemic evolution of the population health short courses, from a one off event to a program of inter-dependent modules, demonstrates sustained commitment by the short course developers and organisers to the promotion of transformative population health learning outcomes. Conclusions: To leverage this commitment, recognising that professional development is not an event but part of an ongoing transformative process, suggestions to further align recognition of population health professional development programs are presented.

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Live, online short-courses: A case study of innovative teacher professional development

The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning ◽

10.19173/irrodl.v11i1.758 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 81 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Meghan E. Marrero ◽

Jessica Fitzsimons Riccio ◽

Karen A. Woodruff ◽

Glen S. Schuster

Keyword(s):

Professional Development ◽

Professional Growth ◽

Course Design ◽

Development Tool ◽

Collaborative Community ◽

Short Course ◽

Competitive Funding ◽

Teacher Professional ◽

Short Courses

Teachers are searching for new venues through which they may meet stringent professional development requirements. Under competitive funding from NASA’s (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Office of Education and the NASA Explorer Schools Project, U.S. Satellite Laboratory, Inc. created a series of live, online, interactive short-courses. In this case study, a mixed methods analysis of a variety of data sources reveals that diverse educators from a variety of classroom contexts view the short-courses as a useful professional development tool, both as a vehicle for a teacher’s own professional growth and for classroom applications. Teachers were particularly interested in the ability to participate in a collaborative community of practice with other educators, instructors, and scientists from across the country, and they found the flexible design of the professional development to be useful. This short-course design offers promise for future professional development opportunities.

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Faculty wellness in academic medicine: Addressing stressors in the workplace

Work ◽

10.3233/wor-213537 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-7

Author(s):

Claudia Finkelstein ◽

Anne Ordway ◽

Kurt L. Johnson

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Organizational Context ◽

Well Being ◽

Professional Autonomy ◽

Individual Responsibility ◽

System Level ◽

Physician Burnout ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Physician Wellness ◽

Promotion System

BACKGROUND: Burnout is widely regarded as a syndrome resulting from chronic occupational stress. While physician burnout has been the subject of extensive research, physician wellness has been proposed as an alternative framework for understanding physician distress. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand the organizational context of faculty wellness within an academic health care system. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 24 chairs of clinical and non-clinical departments in a US university school of medicine. RESULTS: Chairs described several system-level factors perceived to interfere with faculty wellness such as a stricter regulatory environment, the loss of professional autonomy, the up or out promotion system, limitless hours, and the rise of shadow work. While all chairs articulated some degree of responsibility for the wellness of their faculty, some said they lacked the skills or knowledge of resources to fully engage in this role. CONCLUSIONS: Findings from this study are consistent with recent research on physician burnout, which has pivoted from describing burnout as an individual responsibility to including the professional, organizational, and societal factors which likely contribute to physician job satisfaction and well-being. As health care organizations, including academic medical centers, move toward systems-based solutions for physician occupational health, it will be incumbent upon organizational leaders to make administrative decisions favoring physician wellness.

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Renewing the expertise of health and social care professionals to provide integrated care: Evaluation of an intervention in a deprived Dutch neighbourhood

European Journal for Person Centered Healthcare ◽

10.5750/ejpch.v3i4.1021 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 3 (4) ◽

pp. 442 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jennifer Van den Broeke ◽

Maartje Van der Aa ◽

Wim Busschers ◽

Karien Stronks ◽

Thomas Plochg

Keyword(s):

Integrated Care ◽

Population Health ◽

Social Care ◽

Well Being ◽

Learning By Doing ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Health And Social Care ◽

Before And After ◽

Hospital Stays ◽

Coaching Activities

Rationale, aims and objectives: Multimorbidity in deprived populations is associated with longer hospital stays, more avoidable admissions and complications, higher costs, and lower satisfaction with available services. While integrated care has been proposed as a solution, the expertise of professionals to deliver this type of care has received little attention. Our case study evaluates an intensive intervention in a deprived neighbourhood in the Netherlands, launched in 2008, to tackle multimorbidity and the expertise of health and social care professionals to cater to the population’s health needs.Methods: Mixed-methods evaluation. Between 2009-2012 semi-structured interviews (n= 11), field observations, conversations, dialogue sessions and documentary review. In 2012 and 2013 quantitative before-and-after study with web-based questionnaire in the intervention and two control neighbourhoods (n= 86 at t0 and n=117 at t1).Results: The intervention sought to develop professional expertise in population health orientation, generalism, and coaching. Activities were supported by management that emphasized learning by doing, working bottom-up with direct application in practice, and professionals enjoying discretion to experiment. The intervention’s widely supported mission brought cohesion to its activities. In the interviews, professionals reported becoming more adept at understanding the common causes behind patients’ complaints, unravelling their multiple problems, and encouraging them to be more active in addressing their own health and well-being. But this was not supported by the quantitative data measuring professionals’ attitudes.Conclusion and practice implications: Neighbourhood interventions can strengthen professionals’ expertise in population health orientation, generalism and coaching, and the communication and collaboration skills necessary to employ them. Whether they can lead to more adequate responses to multimorbidity and more effective integrated care arrangements needs to be further researched.

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Key lessons for designing health literacy professional development courses

Australian Health Review ◽

10.1071/ah17049 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 42 (1) ◽

pp. 36 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Lucio Naccarella ◽

Bernice Murphy

Keyword(s):

Professional Development ◽

Health Literacy ◽

Professional Education ◽

Health Professionals ◽

Community Services ◽

Realist Evaluation ◽

Metropolitan Region ◽

Learning Design ◽

Design Framework ◽

Future Health

Health literacy courses for health professionals have emerged in response to health professionals’ perceived lack of understanding of health literacy issues, and their failure to routinely adopt health literacy practices. Since 2013 in Victoria, Australia, the Centre for Culture, Ethnicity and Health has delivered an annual health literacy demonstration training course that it developed. Course development and delivery partners included HealthWest Partnership and cohealth. The courses are designed to develop the health literacy knowledge, skills and organisational capacity of the health and community services sector in the western metropolitan region of Melbourne. This study presents key learnings from evaluation data from three health literacy courses using Wenger’s professional educational learning design framework. The framework has three educational learning architecture components (engagement, imagination and alignment) and four educational learning architecture dimensions (participation, emergent, local/global, identification). Participatory realist evaluation approaches and qualitative methods were used. The evaluations revealed that the health literacy courses are developing leadership in health literacy, building partnerships among course participants, developing health literacy workforce knowledge and skills, developing ways to use and apply health literacy resources and are serving as a catalyst for building organisational infrastructure. Although the courses were not explicitly developed or implemented using Wenger’s educational learning design pedagogic features, the course structure (i.e. facilitation role of course coordinators, providing safe learning environments, encouraging small group work amongst participants, requiring participants to conduct mini-projects and sponsor organisation buy-in) provided opportunities for engagement, imagination and alignment. Wenger’s educational learning design framework can inform the design of future key pedagogic features of health literacy courses. What is known about the topic? Health professionals are increasingly participating in health literacy professional development courses. What does this paper add? This paper provides key lessons for designing health literacy professional development courses by reflecting upon Wenger’s professional educational learning design framework. What are the implications for practitioners? To ensure health professionals are receiving evidence-informed health literacy professional education, we encourage future health literacy courses be designed, implemented and evaluated using existing professional educational learning design frameworks.

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Implementing Caregiver Support Programs in a Regional Stroke System

Stroke ◽

10.1161/strokeaha.119.026660 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 50 (12) ◽

pp. 3585-3591 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Victrine Tseung ◽

Susan B. Jaglal ◽

Nancy M. Salbach ◽

Jill I. Cameron

Keyword(s):

Focus Groups ◽

Program Implementation ◽

Best Practice ◽

Well Being ◽

Healthcare Systems ◽

System Level ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Term Care ◽

Caregiver Support ◽

Regional Variations

Background and Purpose— Family caregivers play a central role in the recovery of people with stroke. They need support to optimize the care they provide and their own health and well-being. Despite support from the literature and best practice recommendations, healthcare systems are not formally adopting caregiver programs. This study aimed to describe system-level facilitators and barriers to caregiver support program implementation in a regional stroke system. Methods— Using a qualitative descriptive study design, focus groups were conducted with regional rehabilitation specialists, education coordinators, community and long-term care specialists, and regional/district program directors. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with regional medical directors, health professionals providing stroke care in acute care, rehabilitation and community settings, regional health executives, and primary care leaders. Data were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis. Results— Four focus groups (n=43) and 29 interviews were conducted. We identified 4 themes related to caregiver program implementation: (1) establishing the need for caregiver education and support in an integrated healthcare system; (2) incorporating caregiver programs into the system of care across the care continuum; (3) uncertainty regarding ownership and responsibility for implementation; and (4) addressing regional variations related to access, availability, and culture. Conclusions— This study provides a comprehensive understanding of organization and system-level considerations for implementing caregiver programs in a regional stroke system. Program implementation requires evidence to establish the need for caregiver programs, practical strategies, and establishing ownership to incorporate programs into existing healthcare systems, and consideration of regional variations across healthcare systems. Ultimately, adopting programs to support caregivers will improve recovery in people with stroke and caregiver well-being.

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