Effectiveness of an E-Learning Training on Addressing Alcohol Use During Pregnancy

Summary

A major challenge in health care is equipping health professionals with skills to conduct sensitive conversations which is of importance in the treatment of patients suffering from stigmatized health behaviors such as addiction-related diseases. Alcohol use during pregnancy can cause adverse outcomes for the newborns. Therefore, sensitive conversations with pregnant women conducted by various health professionals who are in contact with them, is of importance. E-learning programs are a good option to teach health professionals with various background how to conduct sensitive conversations, using Motivational Interviewing.

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if the e-learning intervention can improve counseling about alcohol use in pregnancy in heathcare professionals like physicians, midwifes, social workers and others. The main questions it aims to answer is:

* Can the e-learning intervention lead to more conversations about alcohol use in pregnancy ? This is being operationalized as follows: Do health professionals address womens' alcohol use more frequently after completion of the e-learning?
* Does the e-learning additionally lead to higher values of the following variables (secondary outcomes): knowledge on alcohol use in pregnancy, communication skills, confidence, actual and desired conversation duration?

To evaluate these research questions, the study contains two groups: an intervention group receiving the intervention (getting access to the e-learning for four weeks), and a waitlist-control-group which first has a waiting period and later receives the intervention as an incentive. The study has two main measurement point: at baseline (prior to the intervention respectively the waiting period), and after the intervention respectively the waiting period. The waitlist-control group has an additional measurement point after completion of the e-learning.

The main hypothesis is that the intervention group shows a higher increase in the alcohol discussion proportion than the waitlist control group (using the measurement point before the e-learning). We therefore expect a significant group-time interaction in the planned repeated-measures ANOVAs for all variables.

Participants were asked to complete online questionnaires before assignment to the intervention or waitlist control group and after completing the intervention or the waiting period, respectively. Participants in the intervention group were asked to complete an approximately 8-hour e-learning intervention within four weeks, covering background knowledge on alcohol use during pregnancy and communication skills, including motivational interviewing, with interactive case-based exercises and two assessments. Participants in the waitlist control group received access to the e-learning intervention after a two-month waiting period.

Conditions

• Alcohol Use During Pregnancy

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Interprofessional e-Learning Program on Alcohol Use During Pregnancy

An asynchronous interprofessional e-learning program designed to improve knowledge, communication skills, and reflective practice regarding alcohol use during pregnancy and stigma. The program comprises three modules: (1) background knowledge on alcohol use in pregnancy, fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, stigma, and reasons for continued alcohol use; (2) communication skills training based on motivational interviewing principles; and (3) interactive case-based learning. Educational strategies include expert videos, quizzes, reflective exercises addressing personal attitudes and potential stigmatizing beliefs, and twelve interactive patient scenarios. The estimated completion time is approximately eight hours.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University Hospital Tuebingen

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Annette Binder, Dr. med. · University Hospital Tübingen

Study Design

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Purpose

HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2024-05-05

Primary Completion

2025-01-05

Completion

2025-01-05

Countries

• Germany

Study Locations