Alcohol abuse management in primary care: an e-learning course

The mental health knowledge gap challenges public health. The Alcohol Abuse Management in Primary Care (AAMPC) is an e-learning course designed to cover alcohol-related problems from the primary care perspective. The goal of this study was to verify if the AAMPC was able to enhance healthcare professionals' alcohol-related problems knowledge.

One hundred subscriptions for the AAMPC were offered through the federal telehealth program. The course was instructor-led and had nine weekly classes, delivered synchronously or asynchronously, at the students' convenience, using a varied array of learning tools. At the beginning, students took a test that provided a positive score, related to critical knowledge for clinical management, and a negative score, related to misconceptions about alcohol-related problems. The test was repeated 2 months after course completion.

Thirty-three students completed the course. The positive score improved significantly (p<0.001), but not the negative score. Students with previous experience with e-courses presented greater improvement on the positive score (p<0.036). Eighty-percent of the students thought the course excelled in meeting its objectives. Web conferences and video and audio recordings were the most appreciated learning tools. Course satisfaction was negatively related to frequency of Internet access (Spearman's rho=-0.455, p=0.022).

E-learning was highly appreciated as a learning tool, especially by students with the least frequency of Internet use. Nonetheless, it worked better for those previously familiar with e-courses. The AAMPC e-course provided effective knowledge transmission and retention. Complementary strategies to reduce misconceptions about alcohol-related problems must be developed for the training of primary care staff.