Testing the usability of the HWFA module

After we developed the E-learning HWFA module in PulseWeb, out next task was to investigate the usability for the module. To do this we needed all of the current Rehabilitation Care Workers (RCW’s) to try out the module for a few hours and tell us what they thought of it. We made a questionnaire containing 5 categories for the RCW’s to fill in:
– Performance Expectancy
– Effort Expectancy
– Behavioral Intention
– Social Influence
– Facilitating Condition

Each category contained questions the RCW’s had to grade through a Lickert-scale (0-10). The average score on all the questions would give an impression of the usability of the E-learning module according to the RCW’s.

To use PulseWeb it is necessary to have at least some computer skills. Because some of the RCW’s didn’t have any experience with computers, we had to teach them some skills using the Basic Computer Skills course on PulseWeb. We tested their skills at the beginning and the end of the course to see if they improved.

So we had to schedule 2 half days at the computer lab at the University (UCT). One to teach the RCW’s the computer skills and one to get the RCW’s to try out the module and fill in the questionnaire.
Both times we got some real positive results: 84% passed for the final test of the computer course, while only 40% passed the pre-test. Also, the RCW’s scored the usability between 7 and 8 and gave us a lot of positive and useful feedback.

Sadly, for us this meant it was the end of our contribution and our stay in South Africa. At least for now, because the goal is to spread the course to other universities in South Africa, so this project might become much bigger then it is now. If we will be able to be a part of it? Future will tell.

For now we had a great time working on it and we want to thank everyone who has been a part of it. We also want to wish the next students and UCT good luck with extending the project!

Thank you!

Sanne, Yvonne and Lars

Developing the HWFA in PulseWeb

Since we shadowed the RCW’s, our main task has been to develop the HWFA module into the e-learning program PulseWeb. To do that we needed content from UCT to put into the program. This content contained a pretest, a manual, case studies, an assessment form and a final exam. Our first idea was to make tiles for the different Intended Learning Outcomes (ILO’s) and link the manual and case studies to those tiles, so it would look like this:

Later we found out the case studies and examinations were not specific to certain ILO’s, so we decided to change the lay-out and got to this:

We think the lay-out is a lot clearer and easier to understand, because it is less busy. We also added some practice questions, because we could only add multiple choice questions into the final examination. So we used the open questions from the final exam as practice questions.

For one week in April, a delegation from Avans University came to Cape Town to see how the projects were going and how they could expand their contacts in South-Africa. We presented our project to them and we had a nice picknick with all of the Avans students on a beautiful location in Noordhoek.

Next week the current RCW’s will come to UCT for one day and we will test the usability of the e-learning module.

See you later!

Sanne, Yvonne & Lars

Shadowing the RCW’s

The past weeks we have shadowed the Rehabilitation Care Workers in the different Healthcare facilities. We have done this two days a week for three weeks. While we were there we watched how they were doing their job, we interviewed them (and if possible their supervisors) about how they thought the Higher Certificate could be improved. After each visit we had a few points of feedback to improve the course.

The first week we went to St Joseph Children’s Hospital, where the RCW’s can work inside the Hospital, but are also going on home visits in the townships to monitor the children who got discharged from the hospital. During our two days here we split up. One day Lars stayed at the Hospital and Yvonne and Sanne went on home visits, the other day we switched roles. We noticed that the RCW’s who work in the Hospital itself have more of a nursing role than most of the RCW’s we’ve seen so far.

The second week we went to Lentegeur Psychiatric Hospital, located in the township Mitchells Plain. We shadowed 8 RCW’s who are just working in the communities and doing home visits. The day we went with them appeared to be International Ear & Hearing Care Day, so the RCW’s were sent to different Healthcare facilities around the township to provide information to the patient about the fragility of the ear and causes of hearing loss.
The other day we went to Sara Fox Children’s Hospital. Obviously, what we saw here was quite similar to what we had seen at St Joseph’s. The biggest difference was that the RCW’s were not yet used to do home visits, but the idea is to start with that in the near future.

The third and last week we had to go back to Mitchells Plain, but now we were posted at Life Esidemeni Hospital. This is an Intermediate Care Centre that provides the option for people who are becoming unwell to ‘step up’ from community care to acute care, or for people who no longer need to receive hospital treatment to ‘step down’ with continuing care to manage the transition back into the community. In this Hospital the RCW’s also didn’t do any home visits (yet).

After these visits to the RCW’s we had learned a lot about what they do and how they work. We also learned a lot about the South African Healthcare system, especially the Healthcare in the poorer areas of the Western Cape.
According to the feedback we got from patients (or their parents) as well as the therapists, the RCW’s are a real asset to the Healthcare in the Western Cape and their influence could be even bigger in other parts of the country. We are looking forward contribute in making that happen.

Cheers,

Yvonne, Sanne and Lars

Start of the HWFA Project

We are Sanne, Yvonne and Lars, three Physiotherapy students at Avans University of Applied Sciences in Breda, the Netherlands. We came to South Africa to take part in a project, organized by the University of Cape Town (UCT), to develop and implement an e-learning module for The Higher Certificate in Disability Practice. We’ve had a great first week in Cape Town. We already met a lot of nice people and because of that it felt like home pretty quick.

The Higher Certificate has been set up in collaboration with the Western Cape Department of Health and Rehabilitation Services to equip community health workers with the necessary skills and knowledge in working with children and adults with disabilities in their local communities. The course also provides prospective students with a pathway in which to study further in disability studies.

The Higher Certificate consists of 5 modules of which Health Wellness and Function Abilities (HWFA) is one of the largest. The community workers receive training from the different lecturers at the UCT. The program had 30 participants in the first year and from April 2015 they would like to start with a new group.

Our assignment is to evaluate the program according to the feedback from the community rehabilitation care workers (RCWs). With their feedback and information, UCT asked us to put the HWFA module into the e-learning system PulseWeb. The previous group of physiotherapy students also worked with PulseWeb and it is currently used in different hospitals around the country.

As soon as the HWFA module is finished, we can start with a refresher course and implement the module on the 30 participants. The module consists of theory and skills. We have to practice and ‘assess’ these skills with the participants.

During the first four weeks of the project we have to ‘shadow’ the RCWs for a few days to see who they are, what they do, what is there level, type of patients, different kind of treatments, computer facilities and more. The RCW’s work in health facilities (Life Care, Western Cape Rehabilitation Centre, Paediatric Centres), a few of them are located in the townships.

Today, Monday 16th, we had our first appointment with Anthea Brinkman and Sumaya Gabriels, the contact persons for the project. It was a nice conversation and a lot more became clear about the project and what they expect from us. We were all excited about the project and we think we can learn a lot from each other.