Distance education for tobacco reduction with Inuit frontline health workers

BACKGROUND: Tobacco reduction is a major priority in Canadian Inuit communities. However, many Inuit frontline health workers lacked the knowledge, confidence and support to address the tobacco epidemic. Given vast distances, high costs of face-to-face training and previous successful pilots using distance education, this method was chosen for a national tobacco reduction course. OBJECTIVE: To provide distance education about tobacco reduction to at least 25 frontline health workers from all Inuit regions of Canada. DESIGN: Promising practices globally were assessed in a literature survey. The National Inuit Tobacco Task Group guided the project. Participants were selected from across Inuit Nunangat. They chose a focus from a “menu” of 6 course options, completed a pre-test to assess individual learning needs and chose which community project(s) to complete. Course materials were mailed, and trainers provided intensive, individualized support through telephone, fax and e-mail. The course ended with an open-book post-test. Follow-up support continued for several months post-training. RESULTS: Of the 30 participants, 27 (90%) completed the course. The mean pre-test score was 72% (range: 38–98%). As the post-test was done using open books, everyone scored 100%, with a mean improvement of 28% (range: 2–62%). CONCLUSIONS: Although it was often challenging to contact participants through phone, a distance education approach was very practical in a northern context. Learning is more concrete when it happens in a real-life context. As long as adequate support is provided, we recommend individualized distance education to others working in circumpolar regions.