Creation and Implementation of Online Health Educational Modules to Address Learning Needs of Residential Staff at Temporary Housing Facilities for Adolescents

In 2015, 6.6 million children in the United States were involved in physical, sexual, and emotional abuse as well as physical and emotional neglect and in 2014, over 415,000 children were in foster care. Youth ages 12-17 make up 32% of these numbers. Adolescents in foster care have higher amounts of physical, mental, and developmental problems than their peers. Adolescents removed from their homes for abuse or neglect or those with a disruption in foster care placement are often placed in teen crisis centers pending other placements. In Utah, over 2,500 adolescents in 2013 were boarded by local crisis centers staffed by non-medical personnel who have no formal medical training. The purpose of this project was to improve the health education of residential staff at teen crisis centers. Research is abundant on criteria for creating effective online learning modules. However, more research is needed in using online modules to address learning needs of non-medical staff at teen crisis centers. The objectives of this project were to develop health education modules for oral presentation and online access to address the top five health care knowledge deficits of the residential staff at local teen crisis centers, evaluate the effectiveness of modules on improving residential staff knowledge and confidence in caring for adolescents, and disseminate health education modules and project results. The medical and residential staff directors identified the health care knowledge deficits of the staff at local teen crisis centers. The top five deficits were care and prevention of acne and athlete's foot, administration of psychotropic medications, recommended adolescent vaccines, and birth control options. Evidence-based education modules addressing these topics were created, presented orally, and made available for online access. A 15 question pre- and post-presentation Likert scale questionnaire was developed and administered to evaluate the effectiveness of the modules in improving the knowledge and confidence of 48 residential staff members. There were 32 completed questionnaires returned for consideration. Questionnaire results were analyzed using a paired t-test. Analysis of the questionnaire data showed the mean for all questions increased. The changes for each question were statistically significant with p <.001. Data analysis showed an overall improvement in the staffs' knowledge and confidence in caring for adolescents as follows: care of acne 41% improvement, management of athlete's foot 62% improvement, birth control options 34% improvement, administering psychotropic medications 40% improvement, and recommended adolescents vaccines 51% improvement. The modules and project findings were disseminated at the Utah Valley University 7th Annual Nursing Conference March 8, 2017 in Orem, Utah and at the annual Western Institute of Nursing Research and Information Exchange Conference April 19-22, 2017 in Denver, CO. In summary, adolescents in temporary housing facilities often have more health issues and their health conditions are more complex than those of their peers. Residential staff members at teen crisis centers have no formal medical training. Identifying health knowledge deficits guides the development of educational modules that improve the knowledge and confidence of residential staff caring for the basic health care needs of adolescents. Additional health education modules needed to address other areas of staff knowledge deficits. More research needed in using online health education modules to address learning needs of non-medical staff at teen crisis centers.