Development of Web-Based Education Programs for School Health Nurses

Abstract

Purpose: The main objective of this study was to develop a continuing education program for school health nurses using the Internet, and evaluate the satisfaction of users. Method: A survey using a self-reported questionnaire was done to identify areas where education is needed. A stratified random sampling method was employed to select 1,746 school health nurses and to receive the respondings from 584 school health nurses. The contents of the module for the education program were determined to be counseling and teaching techniques to meet health care needs related to sex, and cessation of smoking. The researchers wrote the educational content for the program, and the storyboards and illustrations appropriate to the module were constructed and the domain was registered. The web site was named “www.healthyyouth.org”. Results: Three topics were identified where education is needed; youth and sex, youth and smoking, and counseling techniques for children, and programs were developed under the web site named, "www.healthyyouth.org". Over 90 percent of the respondents reported that the web site was useful and 100 percent reported that they would recommend the web site to other school health nurses. Conclusion: The web-based program allowed school health nurses to study and improve their health care knowledge and skills. Since almost all schools in Korea have personal computers in the infirmary, accessibility to the program is excellent. Based on the results of this study, this type of education program will be a useful method for the continuing education of school health nurses.