Journal Article
|Research

Field-testing a pedagogical evaluation system for assessing skills of patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis


Abstract
INTRODUCTION
As part of a programme providing care for patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) in Armenia, participation in therapeutic patient education (TPE) is proposed to patients when they start treatment.

OBJECTIVES
To assess the usefulness, reliability and ease of use of a patient skills evaluation system, and to determine whether and how these skills change after TPE.

METHODS
A total of 70 patients were assessed before TPE and after a minimum of one TPE session using a pedagogical evaluation tool. A structured questionnaire was administered to 10 educators who participated in the patient skills evaluation.

RESULTS
The evaluation system was perceived by educators as well-adapted to identifying further learning needs, and as reliable and easy to use. After TPE we observed a 23.7% mean gain in knowledge (p< 0.001) and an improvement in the quality of information given by patients to their social group, both about their disease and the risk of transmission. Self-efficacy, already high at the pre-TPE evaluation, did not change after TPE.

CONCLUSIONS
DR-TB patients’ skills, other than self-efficacy, improved after TPE. Recommendations to improve the quality of the evaluation system are given.

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English