A continuing education program for rural communities: evaluating cognitive and behavioral change.

A total of 133 laboratory workers from 60 institutions participated in a unique continuing education project in North Dakota. Cognitive and behavioral changes of the participants were measured in an attempt to evaluate the effectiveness of the Laboratory Education for North Dakota (LEND) program, which included self-instructional programs (SIPs), telelectures, and workshops. The effects of variables such as institutional size, educational level of participants, topic presented, and type of participation were studied. Institutional size had no significant effect on cognitive change (P greater than .05) but had some effect on behavioral change. Educational level was found to significantly affect pretest scores (P less than .05), but was not a major factor in post-test scores. Certain topics presented (i.e., quality assurance and microbiology) resulted in significantly more behavioral changes than other categories. Behavioral changes and degree of cognitive change did not always correspond. Significant correlation was shown between attendance at wet workshops and the number of behavioral changes.