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Trial registered on ANZCTR


Registration number
ACTRN12617000246381
Ethics application status
Approved
Date submitted
13/02/2017
Date registered
17/02/2017
Date last updated
8/03/2017
Type of registration
Prospectively registered

Titles & IDs
Public title
Is there educational value in providing individualised feedback in addition to generic feedback to online course participants?
Scientific title
The effectiveness of individualised and generic feedback compared to generic feedback alone on participation, satisfaction, knowledge acquisition and change in practice in fitness professionals enrolled in an online course.
Secondary ID [1] 291160 0
Nil known
Universal Trial Number (UTN)
U1111-1192-8399
Trial acronym
Linked study record

Health condition
Health condition(s) or problem(s) studied:
Older adults at risk of falls 302021 0
Condition category
Condition code
Injuries and Accidents 301660 301660 0 0
Other injuries and accidents
Public Health 301692 301692 0 0
Health promotion/education

Intervention/exposure
Study type
Interventional
Description of intervention(s) / exposure
Provision of individualised feedback on assignment tasks in addition to generic feedback to fitness professionals participating in an online short course titled 'Exercise Prescription for Falls Prevention'.
The generic feedback is a collation of the main strengths and weaknesses of the group as a whole for each assignment task. This feedback is standardardized for all participants and will be developed by the course facilitators after examining the assignment tasks. The course facilitators are physiotherapists with a minimum of 5 years experience in the area of falls prevention.
The individualised feedback will be feedback specifically developed for each participant based on their own assignment task. Both positive aspects of the task along with some constructive criticism relating to the task goals and possible areas of improvement will be given. This feedback will be provided by the same course facilitators who provide the generic feedback.
The mode of delivery of both the individualised and generic feedback will be the online learning platform (Moodle) used for the online course which can be set up to send email notifications. Both interventions will be provided for each of the four assessment tasks. All participants will be able to direct questions to their course facilitator based on the feedback given. Participants receiving individualised feedback will be encouraged to engage in the feedback given.
The overall duration of the course is 6 weeks. This contains four weeks of active facilitation with an additional 2 weeks when educational materials will remain available for participants and it is expected the final knowledge test and course evaluation should be completed.
Intervention code [1] 297152 0
Prevention
Intervention code [2] 297179 0
Behaviour
Comparator / control treatment
Provision of generic feedback to fitness professionals participating in an online short course titled 'Exercise prescription for Falls Prevention'.
The control group will receive generic feedback only.
The generic feedback is a collation of the main strengths and weaknesses of the group as a whole for each assignment task. This feedback is standardized for all participants and will be developed by the course facilitators after examining the assignment tasks. The course facilitators are physiotherapists with a minimum of 5 years experience in the area of falls prevention.
The mode of delivery will be the online learning platform (Moodle) used for the online course which can be set up to send email notifications. Generic feedback will be provided for each of the four assessment tasks. All participants will be able to direct questions to their course facilitator based on the feedback given.
The overall duration of the course is 6 weeks. This contains four weeks of active facilitation with an additional 2 weeks when educational materials will remain available for participants and it is expected the final knowledge test and course evaluation should be completed.
Control group
Active

Outcomes
Primary outcome [1] 301066 0
Participant satisfaction with content and its relevance and with the support and facilitation measured with a post course evaluation questionnaire designed specifically for a previous study involving this web-based course (Maloney S, Haas R, Keating JL, Molloy E, Jolly B, Sims J, Morgan P, Haines T. Effectiveness of web-based versus face-to-face delivery of education in prescription of falls-prevention exercise to health professionals: Randomised Trial. J Med Internet Res 2011:13(4):e116).
Participants will be asked to respond to the following statements with response options of strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree or strongly agree:
1. The course was pitched at an appropriate knowledge level.
2. I found the tasks and quizzes relevant to my learning.
3. I found the resources relevant to my learning
4. I feel better prepared to prescribe exercise for falls and balance clients
5. Overall, completing the course has improved my confidence in exercise prescription for falls and balance clients.
6. The course content (i.e. topics and skills) was relevant to my current work role.
7. The course content (i.e. topics and skills) was relevant to my career aspirations.
8. I felt supported throughout the course.
9. I was satisfied with the quantity of feedback available on my progress and performance in the course (i.e. provided through answers to self-directed quizzes, feedback on task submissions, answer/feedback sought form the facilitator).
10. Overall I was satisfied with the facilitation of this short-course.

Timepoint [1] 301066 0
within 2 weeks of course completion
Primary outcome [2] 301067 0
Willingness to pay for course measured using open ended contingent evaluation question.
At the beginning of the course, we asked you how much was the maximum amount that you would have been willing to pay out of your own pocket to undertake this course.
Now that you have completed this course and know what was contained within the course and what you have learnt, please tell us what the maximum amount you would now be willing to pay of your own money to complete this course?
Timepoint [2] 301067 0
Within 2 weeks of course completion.
Secondary outcome [1] 331598 0
Participant engagement in course materials measured via computer-generated usage reports. Engagement will be measured by number of minutes of online usage with the learning platform, Moodle. This is automatically collected for each participant as they interact with the online course materials.
Timepoint [1] 331598 0
From course commencement till course completion (6 week time period)
Secondary outcome [2] 331599 0
Participant change in clinical behaviour measured by self-reported change in practice since completing the program. Participants will be asked to respond to the following statements with response options of strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree or strongly agree:
1. Since completing the course, I offer greater assistance/advise to other clinicians within falls prevention..
2. Since completing the course, I feel I communicate more effectively with falls prevention clients.
3. Since completing the course, I attempt to use more motivational interviewing techniques..
4. Since completing the course, I manage falls prevention clients more safely.
5. Since completing the course, I have increased my effort to help clients adhere to their falls and balance programs.
6. Since completing the course, I feel I incorporate more evidence-based practice into the management of falls and balance clients.
Timepoint [2] 331599 0
Within 2 weeks of course completion and again 3 months following course completion
Secondary outcome [3] 331632 0
Participant knowledge of exercise prescription for falls prevention measured using 1 hour multiple choice knowledge test.
Timepoint [3] 331632 0
Within 2 weeks of course completion

Eligibility
Key inclusion criteria
All fitness professionals enrolled in an online short course titled 'Exercise Prescription for Falls Prevention'
Minimum age
18 Years
Maximum age
No limit
Sex
Both males and females
Can healthy volunteers participate?
Yes
Key exclusion criteria
All enrolled course participants are eligible to participate.

Study design
Purpose of the study
Educational / counselling / training
Allocation to intervention
Randomised controlled trial
Procedure for enrolling a subject and allocating the treatment (allocation concealment procedures)
Central randomisation by computer
Methods used to generate the sequence in which subjects will be randomised (sequence generation)
Generation of a computerised random number sequence using permuted blocks.
Participants will be stratified according to gender and level of experience.
Masking / blinding
Blinded (masking used)
Who is / are masked / blinded?



The people analysing the results/data
Intervention assignment
Parallel
Other design features
Phase
Not Applicable
Type of endpoint/s
Efficacy
Statistical methods / analysis
This will be a pilot study using all possible participants of online short course.
Differences between the intervention and control group in knowledge test and assignment scores will be analysed using the Mann-Whitney U test (assuming data is not normally distributed).
Previously used survey questions measuring participant satisfaction and change in behaviour will undergo factor analysis. Differences between intervention and control group in participant satisfaction and change in clinical behaviour will be examined by linear regression using the factor score as the dependent variable and intervention group as the independent variable.
Responses to open-ended qualitative questions will be analysed thematically.

Recruitment
Recruitment status
Active, not recruiting
Date of first participant enrolment
Anticipated
24/02/2017
Actual
27/02/2017
Date of last participant enrolment
Anticipated
3/03/2017
Actual
6/03/2017
Date of last data collection
Anticipated
9/04/2017
Actual
Sample size
Target
98
Accrual to date
Final
96
Recruitment in Australia
Recruitment state(s)
ACT,NSW,NT,QLD,SA,TAS,WA,VIC

Funding & Sponsors
Funding source category [1] 295601 0
Self funded/Unfunded
Name [1] 295601 0
Country [1] 295601 0
Primary sponsor type
University
Name
Monash University Peninsula Campus
Address
McMahons Rd, Frankston,
Victoria, 3199
Country
Australia
Secondary sponsor category [1] 294434 0
None
Name [1] 294434 0
Address [1] 294434 0
Country [1] 294434 0

Ethics approval
Ethics application status
Approved
Ethics committee name [1] 296920 0
Monash University Human Ethics Committee
Ethics committee address [1] 296920 0
Ethics committee country [1] 296920 0
Australia
Date submitted for ethics approval [1] 296920 0
13/02/2017
Approval date [1] 296920 0
27/02/2017
Ethics approval number [1] 296920 0
8070

Summary
Brief summary
Trial website
Trial related presentations / publications
Public notes

Contacts
Principal investigator
Name 70934 0
Ms Romi Haas
Address 70934 0
Department of Physiotherapy
Department of Physiotherapy
School of Primary Health Care
Monash University
McMahons Rd,
Frankston,
VIC, 3199
Country 70934 0
Australia
Phone 70934 0
61 409010626
Fax 70934 0
Email 70934 0
romi.haas@monash.edu
Contact person for public queries
Name 70935 0
Romi Haas
Address 70935 0
Department of Physiotherapy
School of Primary Health Care
Monash University
McMahons Rd,
Frankston,
VIC, 3199
Country 70935 0
Australia
Phone 70935 0
61 409010626
Fax 70935 0
Email 70935 0
romi.haas@monash.edu
Contact person for scientific queries
Name 70936 0
Romi Haas
Address 70936 0
Department of Physiotherapy
School of Primary Health Care
Monash University
McMahons Rd,
Frankston,
VIC, 3199
Country 70936 0
Australia
Phone 70936 0
61 409010626
Fax 70936 0
Email 70936 0
romi.haas@monash.edu

No information has been provided regarding IPD availability


What supporting documents are/will be available?

No Supporting Document Provided



Results publications and other study-related documents

Documents added manually
No documents have been uploaded by study researchers.

Documents added automatically
No additional documents have been identified.