Ecare-COPD – a massive open online course to empower nurses to enhance self-management skills in patients with COPD

Abstract

Backgroud: ECare-COPD is a massive open online course (MOOC) aiming to enhance nurses’ skills for the promotion of self-management in people with COPD. This MOOC integrates digital educational contents on self-management, pulmonary rehabilitation, supported by video and virtual patients. We aimed to access the usefulness, easiness and nurse’s intention to use MOOC in pre-graduate education and lifelong learning.

Method: An exploratory, descriptive and transversal study was conducted. Participants were nursing degree students (N=128), nurses (N=15) and Portuguese Rehabilitation specialized nurses (N=18). Data were gathered through a questionnaire based on the Davis Technology Acceptance Model, using a five-point Likert scale (1-worst possible opinion, 5-best opinion). Internal reliability of the questionnaire was accessed through the analysis of the internal consistency, using exploratory factorial analysis, Cronbach's Alpha and McDonalds' Omega.

Results: Participants had a mean age of 25.69 years (SD±9.53), of which 83.9% (n=78) were female. From the total participants (n=93), 65.6% (n=61) were nursing students attending the second year of the nursing degree, 15.1% (n=14) were nurses and 19.4% (n=18) were specialized rehabilitation nurses. The easiness and global quality of the course showed an average of 4.70 (SD=0.314), and the usefulness and intention to attend in the future the MOOC showed an average of 4.73, (SD=0.346). The identified dimensions were significantly and positively correlated (r(93)=.569, p<.001).

Conclusion: MOOCs open a new era in health education improving health professionals’ preparedness, through access to digital educational contents.