Journal of Education and Health Promotion

The impact of a didactic and experiential learning model on health profession students’ knowledge, perceptions, and confidence in the use of telehealth

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

. Karene Boos
. Kerri Murphy
. Thomas St. George
. James Brandes
. Jane Hopp
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Training of health profession students in telehealth is important to ensure proper 
implementation for healthcare delivery. This prospective study aimed to analyze the effects of 
didactic and experiential learning on knowledge, confidence, and attitudes of telehealth among 
health profession students (Survey 1). The perceptions of a mixed model telehealth platform were 
also considered among these students and community clients (Survey 2).
MATERIALS AND METHODS: A quasi‑experimental repeated‑measure study was conducted on 153 
university health profession students in physician assistant, physical therapy, occupational therapy, 
and nursing (NR) across the 2020–2021 academic year. Survey 1 was administered to students 
pre/postdidactic telehealth training and at two sequential points within two semesters of telehealth 
experiential learning. Survey 2 was distributed among students and a pool of 19 community clients 
at 4 time points across the experience. Survey data were analyzed using R software.
RESULTS: There was a significant improvement in telehealth knowledge, confidence, and attitudes 
among all student disciplines after the didactic module with marginal means ranging 3.313/5–4.318/5 
for pretest to posttest 1. Improvement continued through experiential learning with marginal means 
ranging 4.170/5–4.369/5 in posttest 3. There was also a significant student and client approval 
of the telehealth platform with a student mean high of 3.962/5 ± 0.527 and client mean high of 
4.727/5 ± 0.238.
CONCLUSION: A didactic training module combined with experiential learning is effective for health 
profession students’ improvement in perception, knowledge, and attitudes toward telehealth. Health 
profession students and community clients approve a mixed model telehealth platform.

Keywords

Attitudes
curriculum
experiential learning
health profession students
perceptions
telehealth
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Journal of Education and Health Promotion
Volume 12, Issue 6
July 2022
Pages 1-8

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