Education on Opiate Addiction and Treatment

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant) Our goal is to educate primary care physicians and physicians-in-training on the recognition and treatment of opiate addiction by developing an Internet-based continuing education (CE) curriculum consisting of seven courses. One course was created and evaluated in Phase I of this project. That course improved knowledge and self-efficacy in a group of 23 residents and resulted in high satisfaction. The course was qualified for 1.5 hours of American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) CE credit. Phase II will create six additional courses based on research findings, guidelines, consultant input, literature review, and expert panel recommendations. A standard rapid-prototyping formative analysis technique will utilize input from physicians and expert consultants to produce successively improved versions of each course as input is received. The final courses will be presented to the Center for Continuing Education at the University of Pittsburgh, the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and the AAFP for CE credit. In Phase II we will evaluate the suite of courses for their effect on: knowledge, clinical skills, self-efficacy and reported behavior using a two group, pre-post testing design. We will also assess overall user satisfaction with the online learning experience in terms of course elements, comparison to other learning experiences, and perceived impact. If the courses are successful, this project will produce a new means to educate physicians in opiate addiction diagnosis and treatment techniques. The methodology used in this research will serve as a template to guide other Investigators interested in developing substance abuse continuing education materials. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: Not Available