Toni Wain

Improving health Professional’s knowledge of hepatitis B using cartoon based learning tools: a retrospective analysis of pre and post tests

BackgroundHepatitis B serology is complex and a lack of knowledge in interpretation contributes to the inadequate levels of screening and referral for highly effective hepatitis antiviral treatments. This knowledge gap needs to be addressed so that current and future healthcare professionals are more confident in the detection and assessment of hepatitis B to improve the uptake of treatment and reduce long-term complications from the disease. Cartoons have been used effectively as a teaching tool in other settings and were considered as a potentially useful teaching aid in explaining hepatitis B serology. This study examines the impact of cartoons in improving healthcare professionals’ knowledge.MethodsA cartoon based learning tool designed to simplify the complexities of hepatitis B serology was developed as part of an online learning program for medical practitioners, nurses and students in these professions. A retrospective analysis was carried out of pre and post online test results.ResultsAn average improvement of 96% of correct answers to case study questions in hepatitis B serology was found across all ten questions following the use of an online cartoon based learning tool.ConclusionThe data indicates a significant improvement of participants’ knowledge of hepatitis B serology from pre-test to post-test immediately following an online cartoon based learning tool. However, further research is required to measure its long term impact.

Support for Non IT Savvy Teachers to Incorporate Games

This research is to provide the tools for novice IT users to develop immersive games for teaching. The tools were developed in the context of a project in which Aboriginal Australian people, who are members of university or general communities, describe and explain their culture to non-Aboriginal students. Learning from Aboriginal cultural ways of teaching, these tools can be applied to other domains. The teaching environment includes recorded narratives in an interactive cross-cultural training game which is to be used as part of the professional preparation of students working in health. The paper focuses on the tools used to generate learning environment from the stories. This includes authoring the rules for the agents emergent narrative in the teaching games, learning paths to link individual contribution into a coherent story, and scenarios generated using visual tools to support contributors. The tools have been used to generate prototypes from a previously collected set of stories stories, constructing scenarios by compiling them from simpler interactions and this process will be used in future story collection workshops to provide story providers with better control of how they will contribute to the teaching framework.

Engaging Australian Aboriginal narratives to challenge attitudes and create empathy in health care: a methodological perspective

BackgroundUnconscious bias and negative attitudes towards minority groups have detrimental effects on the way health care is, or is not, provided to these groups. Recognition of racist attitudes and behaviours as well as understanding clients’ experiences of health and health care are pivotal to developing better health care strategies to positively impact on the quality and safety of care provided to Indigenous people.Indigenous research demands inclusive research processes and the use of culturally appropriate methodologies. This paper presents a methodological account of collecting narratives which accurately and respectfully reflect Aboriginal Australians’ experiences with health care in Western Australia. The purpose of these narratives is to provide health students and professionals with an opportunity to ‘walk-in the shoes’ of Aboriginal people where face-to-face interaction is not feasible.MethodsWith the incorporation of Indigenous peoples’ voices being an important link in cultural safety, the project was led by an Indigenous Reference group, who encouraged active participation of Aboriginal people in all areas of the project. Using a phenomenological approach and guided by the Indigenous Reference group, yarning data collection was implemented to collect stories focusing on Aboriginal people’s experiences with health care services. An open-access, on-line website was established to host education resources developed from these “yarns”.ResultsYarning provided a rich source of information on personal experiences and encouraged the story provider to recognise their facilitative role in the research process. While the methodology used in this project was lengthy and labour-intensive it afforded a respectful manner for story collection and highlighted several innate flaws when Western methods are applied to an Indigenous context.ConclusionEngagement of an Indigenous Reference Group was pivotal to designing an appropriate methodology that incorporated the voices of Aboriginal people in a multimedia resource of Aboriginal narratives. However further research is warranted to understand how the resources are being used and integrated into curricula, and their impact on students and health care outcomes.