A Strong Start in Life - ELAS 2.0: A Digital Learning Program to Promote a Healthy Pregnancy and Early Child Protection

Condition(s) studied

Investigational drug(s) / intervention(s)

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 nine hours.

Study summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to evaluate an adapted version of a previously developed e-learning tool to teach sensitive conversations to health professionals working in maternity care. The goal of the e-learning intervention is to increase health professionals' empathy, self-efficacy, and sense of competence regarding their conversations with pregnant women who may drink alcohol.

The main question it aims to answer is:

Can participation in the e-learning intervention lead to higher values in empathy, self-efficacy, and sense of competence in health professionals working with pregnant women who may drink alcohol during pregnancy (quantitative evaluation)?

Does the participation additionally lead to a higher sense of responsibility (being responsible to ask about alcohol consumption and explain possible risks thereof)? The second research question (secondary outcome) should be evaluated quantitatively and qualitatively.

What feedback do participants of the e-learning have about it (qualitative evaluation)?

Participants will

Complete four web-based questionnaires (one before and three after participation in the e-learning)

* Participate in the e-learning intervention (= get access to the webpage for eight weeks). The intervention includes an approximately 9-hour asynchronous e-learning program, covering background knowledge on alcohol use during pregnancy and communication skills, including motivational interviewing, with interactive case-based exercises and two assessments.
* Some (not all) participants will participate in individual phone interviews exploring perceived professional responsibility regarding alcohol use during pregnancy and feedback on the e-learning intervention.

Eligibility

Primary outcome measure(s)

• empathy in conversation with pregnant women who may drink alcohol — At enrollment (T0), immediately after completion of the e-learning intervention, up to 8 weeks after baseline (T1), 3 weeks after completion of the e-learning intervention (T2), and 12 weeks after completion of the e-learning intervention (T3).
  Empathy with regard to working with pregnant women who may drink alcohol is being assessed with the Jefferson Scale of Empathy - Health Professionals version (JSE-HP), translated into German. The questionnaire includes 20 items, which have to be answered on a 7-point Likert scale. After reverse coding of negatively worded items, item scores are summed to a total score ranging from 20 to 140, with higher scores indicating greater empathy.
• self-efficacy with regard to working with pregnant women who may drink alcohol — At enrollment (T0), immediately after completion of the e-learning intervention, up to 8 weeks after baseline (T1), 3 weeks after completion of the e-learning intervention (T2), and 12 weeks after completion of the e-learning intervention (T3).
  Self-efficacy with regard to working with pregnant women who may drink alcohol is being assessed with the German version of the General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSE). It includes 10 items which have to be answered on a 4-point Likert scale. Item scores are summed to a total score ranging from 10 to 40, with higher scores indicating greater general self-efficacy.
• sense of competence with regard to working with pregnant women who may drink alcohol — At enrollment (T0), immediately after completion of the e-learning intervention, up to 8 weeks after baseline (T1), 3 weeks after completion of the e-learning intervention (T2), and 12 weeks after completion of the e-learning intervention (T3).
  Sense of competence with regard to working with pregnant women who may drink alcohol is assessed with the Basic Need Satisfaction at Work Scale - Competence subscale (German version). The subscale includes six items rated on a 7-point Likert scale. After reverse coding of negatively worded items, item scores can be summed to a total score ranging from 6 to 42 or averaged to obtain a mean score ranging from 1 to 7. Higher scores indicate greater perceived competence.

Trial sites (1)

More University Hospital Tuebingen trials in Germany