SCISTER act: delivering training in information skills for social-care professionals

To develop and evaluate a programme of information skills training for social-care practitioners and health-care librarians.

Two one-day training courses run separately for 13 social-care practitioners and 10 health-care librarians in the Trent geographic region within Northern England.

Qualitative and quantitative feedback collected through questionnaires supplemented by participant observation.

While generally feedback was favourable, the courses were overly ambitious. More training sessions of shorter duration would offer participants opportunities to practise and use the skills they have acquired. Social-care practitioners responded more positively to skills associated with appraising qualitative research than with randomised controlled trials. Librarians appreciated the opportunity to learn about unfamiliar social-care resources. Both practitioners and health-care librarians reported that they acquired skills to support evidence-based social care as a result of the training intervention.

Involvement of a multi-disciplinary team and support from a social-care information provider maximized the impact of this experimental training intervention.