Evaluation of a Distance and Continuing Education and Training Teleconference for Pennsylvania Nutritionists

A one-day teleconference "Building Communication Bridges in Family Nutrition Programs," was broadcast to 21 Pennsylvania sites for both professional and paraprofessional staff of Women, Infants, Children and the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program. The program included a four-member panel of communication experts; pre-recorded video segments; print materials; telephone question and answer sessions; and facilitated on-site group activities. Self-administered pre-conference and post-conference questionnaires were given to all 574 eligible participants. Of these, 99% (571) completed the pre-conference questionnaire and 97% completed the post-conference questionnaire. The primary outcomes measured were participant satisfaction, effectiveness of the conference, and self-reported attitudinal changes. Results show that 89.2% were satisfied to very satisfied with learning, 84.4% rated the conference "as effective" to "more effective" than conferences where attendees and instructors are face to face. Attendees reported an increase in knowledge that was significant at the P=.0001 level. No differences were found in overall satisfaction regarding professional status or work organization. Most (83%) were willing to attend satellite conferences for future training. Teleconferencing appears to have potential for future training with this population, and for other organizations who have both professional and paraprofessional training needs in a geographically dispersed group.