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A multi‐professional evidence‐based practice course improved allied health students' confidence and knowledge
Author(s) -
Bennett Sally,
Hoffmann Tammy,
Arkins Miranda
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of evaluation in clinical practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.737
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1365-2753
pISSN - 1356-1294
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2753.2010.01602.x
Subject(s) - curriculum , confidence interval , medicine , medical education , session (web analytics) , evidence based practice , psychology , family medicine , alternative medicine , pedagogy , computer science , pathology , world wide web
Purpose To evaluate the effectiveness of a semester‐long multi‐professional university course teaching evidence‐based practice principles to allied health students in terms of changes in attitudes, confidence, and perceived and actual knowledge regarding evidence‐based practice. Methods This was a pre–post study of allied health students who completed a multi‐professional university course that taught evidence‐based practice skills and concepts. The course was run over a 13‐week period (2 hours per week) and utilized didactic lectures, tutorial and workshop formats, and a hands‐on database searching session. Participants completed a questionnaire which assessed their attitudes, confidence, and perceived and actual knowledge regarding evidence‐based practice on the first and last day of the course. Results Ninety‐one students participated in the study; however, complete data sets were available for only 59 participants. Attitudes towards evidence‐based practice did not significantly improve; however, attitudes were already positive prior to undertaking the course. There was a statistically significant improvement in confidence with a mean increase of 9.02 [score range 6–30, 95% confidence interval (CI) 8.21, 9.82]. Perceived knowledge improved with a statistically significant mean increase of 14.15 (score range 5–25, 95% CI 12.55, 15.75) and there was a statistically significant mean increase in actual knowledge of 3.56 (score range 0–10, 95% CI 2.83, 4.29). Conclusions Teaching evidence‐based practice skills and concepts to allied health students within a multi‐professional university curriculum improved confidence and perceived and actual knowledge regarding evidence‐based practice. Further research is needed to determine if these changes result in long‐term behaviour change once students graduate, and to consider optimal methods for multi‐ and interprofessional delivery of evidence‐based practice training.