BMC Medical Education (09/03/2023) Vol. 23, No. 629 Bakwa Kanyinga, Felly; Gogovor, Amédé; Georgina Dofara, Suélène; et al.
A pre-post study assessed the impact of continuing professional development (CPD) courses designed to guide specialist physicians' adoption of targeted behaviors. For the study, researchers evaluated participants of at least one of nine in-person lectures at an annual meeting in November 2019, supplemented by content including slide, multimedia and expert presentations. In all, 205 of 329 course participants completed a validated questionnaire, including 158 before the courses, 128 after the courses and 47 six months later. Those completing the CPD-REACTION questionnaire prior to taking the courses had a mean intention score of 5.7 out of 7, while those completing it after scored 6.35. Physicians' post-course intentions to adopt targeted behaviors improved substantially when all courses were analyzed; however, individual course analysis showed variable improvement across courses. The most influential factors in the intention to adopt targeted behaviors post-course were moral norm, beliefs about capabilities and convictions about consequences, while social factors were not influential. "Investing in these modifiable factors could induce behavior change that will improve the health and safety of patients," the researchers suggest. The authors recommend using tools like the validated questionnaire to assess CPD courses.
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