Document Type
Article
Abstract
The implementation of evidence-based public health programs into practice is critical for improving health, but trainings for organizational change agents are often not scalable. To describe the process of converting a training that targets faith-based organizational capacity development from an in-person to an online format. We engaged in an iterative process to convert the training delivery mode from in-person to online that included assessing stakeholder support, consulting the literature on best practices, seeking a design team, consolidating content, designing engaging lessons, and building an online site. Feedback from end-users and other audiences was incorporated throughout. Pilot participants with characteristics like intended training users were then recruited via community and faith-based partner networks. They rated their agreement with statements about the effectiveness as well as design and functionality of each lesson and the overall training (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree) and participated in a structured follow-up interview. Nine pilot participants (representing 9 churches in 7 states; 6 African American, 5 with health ministries) rated the online lessons favorably (all ratings ≥ 4.5). Most (90.4%) perceived the lesson duration to be "just right"and spent 52.5 ± 9.9 minutes/lesson. Participants evaluated the overall training positively (all ratings ≥ 4.7). Lesson content, resources, multimedia, and program ideas were most-liked aspects of lessons, while content, staff responsiveness, discussion board, and pace were most-liked aspects of the overall training in open-ended and interview responses. This paper shares a replicable process for converting training modalities from in-person to online with the goal of increased scalability.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
Publication Info
Published in Translational Behavioral Medicine, Volume 13, Issue 4, 2023, pages 226-235.
Rights
© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Behavioral Medicine. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
APA Citation
Wilcox, S., Saunders, R. P., Stucker, J., Kaczynski, A. T., Day, K. R., Kinnard, D., Decker, L., & Bernhart, J. A. (2023). A process for converting an in-person training to increase church capacity to implement physical activity and healthy eating practices and policies to an online format. Translational Behavioral Medicine, 13(4), 226–235. https://doi.org/10.1093/tbm/ibac102