Comparison Lecturing Method And Self-Learning on Knowledge of General Practitioners Participating in Continuing Education Course for Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Introduction: The aim of continuing medical education (CME) is to enhance knowledge and improves performance. Various ways is used in continuing education training. Stay away from work to participate in retraining will make problems for physicians and patients. Use the self-learning program might be a good way of continuing education. This study designed to compare training with lecturing method and self-learning on knowledge of general practitioners participating in continuing education in Kermanshah. Methods: This quasi-experimental study (before and after design) was done in 2007. Fifty-two general practitioners, who participate in CME course, selected with convenience sampling and randomly allocated in two groups (case and control). After Pretest, training with booklet and lecturing about irritable bowel syndrome was performed for case and control group respectively. The post-test was performed in both groups. Pretest and posttest assessed participant’s knowledge with two equivalent tests (score range was zero to 20). Data analysis was done using SPSS software with t-test and X2. P-value less than 0/05 was considered significant. Results: The mean scores of control group were 10/23±2/28 and 12/50±2/65 in pretest and posttest respectively. The mean scores of case group were 8/69±2/68 and 11/88±1/90 in pretest and posttest respectively. The mean scores of both groups had increased after the training. This in both groups was significant (p<0/001), but there was no significant statistical differences between two groups. Discussion: The results showed training was effective on enhancing participants’ knowledge, but training methods did not have impact on it. Considering problems that occur due to absence of physicians in their work place during participating in continuing education programs, it seems that self-learning programs also can be used.