April 4-6, 2024 • Hyatt Regency • Lexington, KY
Innovations in Health Communication
Innovations in Health Communication
Abstract: What Happens Post-Pilot Testing? A Model for Revising a Disability Awareness Training Program
Disability awareness trainings are recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as integral efforts to increase knowledge about the harmful impacts of ableism in healthcare, health research, and health-promotion. While successful initial implementation of disability awareness training is widely reported, little is known about the process of refinement of these trainings and the efforts to engage in translational research to increase dissemination. The lack of published knowledge about training revision may lead to an assumption that post-pilot empirical refinement is unimportant. Additionally, there remain critical questions about implementation and dissemination of training beyond initial efforts.
Our purpose is to describe the iterative revision process of a disability awareness training—titled the Disability Awareness Training and Education program (DATE)—conducted among community-based exercise instructors to provide a model for community-academic partnerships who are involved in this line of work. After an initial feasibility pilot trial and revisions of DATE with 19 fitness instructors (published elsewhere), we sought to increase effectiveness of the training, increase reach and adoption across a wider audience, increase fidelity of implementation, and design with maintenance/longevity of the training in mind.
Central to the revision process was bringing additional expertise to our team, namely, academic collaborators from the Department of Communication with expertise related to best practices for adult learners and training and development (e.g., differentiating and aligning training content, training goals, and training objectives); creating engaging learning experiences (e.g., platform, content design, interactive elements); developing real-life interactions to model effective communication practices; boosting the conceptual premises of the content (e.g., microaggressions); and ensuring language was accurate and robust, yet accessible (e.g., avoiding jargon).
Accordingly, we integrated DATE program content with new content regarding Universal Design, microaggressions, adaptive exercise demonstrations for different exercise modalities, and communication scenarios based on feedback from the pilot tests and expertise from the interdisciplinary team. The revised program—titled the Inclusive Community Exercise Training (ICET)—now resides in Rise, an online, eLearning authoring tool that takes significantly less time and expertise to develop and can be quickly and easily edited; is simply to navigate as both a designer and learner; provides a variety of tools, including text, video, multiple choice questions, scenario-based learning, and interactive graphics; and supports screen readers and is fully keyboard navigable. ICET is now undergoing a larger effectiveness trial prior to provision as continuing education for community-based group exercise instructors.
Based on our revision experiences, we encourage those involved in developing and disseminating disability awareness training to think about improvements as multi-faceted: the composition of the team, including the potential for more diverse expertise; the content of the training, including the inherent tension between broad applicability and tailoring for particular places and people; and the delivery of the training, including the affordances of different modalities and the best practices make that modality effective for learning. We encourage other academic-community partnerships involved in disability awareness trainings to engage in systematic program revision in line with pilot feedback and outcomes, dissemination frameworks, eLearning best practices, and partner and community needs.
Our purpose is to describe the iterative revision process of a disability awareness training—titled the Disability Awareness Training and Education program (DATE)—conducted among community-based exercise instructors to provide a model for community-academic partnerships who are involved in this line of work. After an initial feasibility pilot trial and revisions of DATE with 19 fitness instructors (published elsewhere), we sought to increase effectiveness of the training, increase reach and adoption across a wider audience, increase fidelity of implementation, and design with maintenance/longevity of the training in mind.
Central to the revision process was bringing additional expertise to our team, namely, academic collaborators from the Department of Communication with expertise related to best practices for adult learners and training and development (e.g., differentiating and aligning training content, training goals, and training objectives); creating engaging learning experiences (e.g., platform, content design, interactive elements); developing real-life interactions to model effective communication practices; boosting the conceptual premises of the content (e.g., microaggressions); and ensuring language was accurate and robust, yet accessible (e.g., avoiding jargon).
Accordingly, we integrated DATE program content with new content regarding Universal Design, microaggressions, adaptive exercise demonstrations for different exercise modalities, and communication scenarios based on feedback from the pilot tests and expertise from the interdisciplinary team. The revised program—titled the Inclusive Community Exercise Training (ICET)—now resides in Rise, an online, eLearning authoring tool that takes significantly less time and expertise to develop and can be quickly and easily edited; is simply to navigate as both a designer and learner; provides a variety of tools, including text, video, multiple choice questions, scenario-based learning, and interactive graphics; and supports screen readers and is fully keyboard navigable. ICET is now undergoing a larger effectiveness trial prior to provision as continuing education for community-based group exercise instructors.
Based on our revision experiences, we encourage those involved in developing and disseminating disability awareness training to think about improvements as multi-faceted: the composition of the team, including the potential for more diverse expertise; the content of the training, including the inherent tension between broad applicability and tailoring for particular places and people; and the delivery of the training, including the affordances of different modalities and the best practices make that modality effective for learning. We encourage other academic-community partnerships involved in disability awareness trainings to engage in systematic program revision in line with pilot feedback and outcomes, dissemination frameworks, eLearning best practices, and partner and community needs.