Assessing changes in professional attitudes: Effects of continuing education

The pace of new developments and policies related to medical and allied health practice underscores the importance of efficient and effective continuing education. But the literature contains little in the way of research to document and assess the effectiveness of continuing education programs or to examine the complex process of professional change. The main purpose of the study was to assess the attitudinal change of professionals who attended a continuing education program on family-centered care. This program was developed by a national professional organization in response to federal legislation promoting major changes in the delivery of early intervention services. A description of the program and rationale for its development are presented. The evaluation was conducted in collaboration with a university-based personnel preparation institute. Demographic, work, and professional experience variables were included in the multivariate analysis along with participants' evaluation of the workshop and their assessment of family-centered attitudes before and after the continuing education program. Multiple regression first identified factors associated with professionals' preworkshop attitudes toward family-centered care. A second analysis examined their change in attitudes after the workshop. The final model explained 53 percent of the variance in postworkshop attitudes. The model included the following variables: preworkshop attitudes, location of the workshop, employer, workshop satisfaction, professional role, and pediatric experience.