Online Training in Evidence-Based Behavioral Practice (EBBP) for Doctoral Education

Thursday, 15 July 2010

Robin Newhouse, PhD
University of Maryland School of Nursing, Baltimore, MD

Learning Objective 1: Access four online graduate level educational modules, transdisciplinary resources, and the Evidence Based Behavioral Health (EBBP)conceptual model and process on the EBBP website.

Learning Objective 2: Evaluate the utility of the Evidence Based Behavioral Health (EBBP) modules for transdisciplinary evidence based practice training in their setting.

The Evidence Based Behavioral Practice (EBBP) project was funded by a National Library of Medicine contract from the Office of Behavioral & Social Sciences Research, National Institutes of Health grant to Northwestern University. One of the goals of the project is to provide educators with tools for teaching evidence-based concepts and skills to students and practitioners. Five online training modules were developed in 2009: EBBP Process, Search for Evidence, Systematic Review, Critical Appraisal and Randomized Controlled Trial. Modules are interactive and include case examples of common problems encountered at the individual patient and community level.  All five modules were included in a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) core course in evidence based practice (EBP) methods for 25 enrolled students in Fall 2009. The DNP core course is offered in a blended format (includes in class, online and web based sessions). Each EBBP module was assigned during the online portion of the course, with a requirement for students to post two lessons learned from each module. The discussion board dialog was rich, well referenced with additional sources, extended the content of each EBBP module, and raised additional questions for faculty clarification.  During an in class session after completion of all five modules, students reviewed the objectives and post test associated with each EBBP module.  Formative and summative evaluation indicates that the EBBP modules were an effective teaching learning strategy for the doctoral student, broadened the student’s exposure to transdisciplinary EBP and should be used in future courses.