Development and Examination of an Educational Program Combining E-Learning and Face-to-Face Training That Nurtures Inflammatory Bowel Disease Nurse Specialists

Introduction: The number of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in Japan has continued to increase, leading to diverse and complex patient backgrounds. Despite these challenges, the education of IBD nurse specialists has not kept pace with the evolving circumstances. Therefore, our research aimed to develop and validate an educational program for the training of IBD nurse specialists.

Methods: We designed an educational program targeting nurses involved with IBD care. The program included e-learning on the assessment of IBD activity and self-care support, as well as face-to-face group discussions. The understanding and practice of disease activity assessment and self-care support were evaluated before and after the e-learning sessions and face-to-face training. Face-to-face training satisfaction was assessed using the Course Interest Survey (CIS) scale and summarized through descriptive statistics.

Results: Overall, data from 19 participants were analyzed. Scores for understanding and practice of disease activity assessment and self-care support increased across all training processes. Moreover, the items that significantly increased before and after e-learning were "inflammation" (p = 0.012), "IBD recognition" (p = 0.026), and "treatment" (p = 0.013) in terms of understanding and "inflammation" (p = 0.036) in terms of practice. The items that increased significantly from e-learning to face-to-face training were "inflammation" (p = 0.042), "subject symptoms" (p = 0.018), and "treatment" (p = 0.017) in terms of understanding. No significant differences in mean scores for understanding and practice were observed between the two groups. According to the CIS scale, the "attention" and "relevance" factors indicate that the training design was highly interesting and relevant. However, the "confidence" factor received a slightly lower average score than did the other factors.

Conclusion: The educational program showed promising implications for the development of IBD nurse specialists. However, further consideration is needed to devise training content that fosters confidence in clinical practice.