[Effect evaluation of an online training package to strengthen methodological and diagnostic skills in the application of SOPESS: A cluster randomised trial (KOMET-SEU project)].

Abstract

As part of the KOMET-SEU project, an online training package for the child and youth health service was developed to strengthen the skills regarding the implementation of the social-paediatric screening SOPESS and to increase the quality and utilisation of SOPESS data. Evaluation of the process showed that the target group assessed the training package in positive terms. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of the training package on skills and behaviour of employees of the child and youth health service.In a cluster randomised controlled trial, 34 public health departments in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate were assigned to either an intervention or a waiting list control group. Effectiveness of the intervention was assessed using examiner competence (secondary outcome measure) and examiner behaviour (two primary outcome measures). The outcome measures were collected based on 94 items on a 4-point Likert scale using online questionnaires before and after the introduction of the training package. Linear mixed model analyses, adjusted for potential co-predictors, were conducted to examine the intervention effects.The analysis sample comprised 248 employees of the child and youth health service. With already high baseline levels in the outcome measures, there were no significant global intervention effects on examiner competence (B=0.15; SE=0.09; p=0.08) and examiner behaviour (B=- 0.01; SE=0.08; p=0.91 and B=0.06; SE=0.09; p=0.49). Only a tendency towards stronger effects in subgroups of examiners with little SOPESS experience was discernible.Despite good use and positive assessment by the target group, the training package led to a strengthening of skills and changes in the behaviour only of examiners with little experience. Whether this is sufficient to increase the quality and utilisation of the SOPESS data in the long term remains to be seen.