Development of a mobile responsive online learning module on Psychosocial and mental health issues related to COVID 19

Abstract

The direct and indirect mental health and psychosocial effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are pervasive and could affect mental health now and in the time to come (Holmes et al., 2020). There is a need for building the capacity of trained health providers who can identify and provide suitable interventions for mental health issues arising out of this pandemic in their community. In the current scenario of physical distancing, restriction on movements, and urgency to disseminate the accurate and appropriate information (Tandon, 2020), NIMHANS Digital Academy developed an online learning program on mental health and psychological issues in COVID 19, intended for counselors. This one week or ten hours module consisted of two hours of NIMHANS tele-ECHO multipoint video-conference sessions (Mehrotra et al., 2018) followed by eight hours of self-paced e-learning. There were five phases in the development of this online learning program. During the planning phase, the focus was on course content. A group of experts reviewed both national, international literature, websites, and guidelines (Department of Psychiatry, 2020, IASC, 2020; MOHFW, 2020). Two subject experts and five potential participants reviewed the content and provided feedback to the team. Meantime, the team members discussed each person's role in the lesson design, copyright, multimedia materials, timeline, and technological help. In the development phase, the content, as well as the instructional design, were finalized. There were four sub-modules, i.e., a. psychosocial impact on a general and specific population, b. home and hospital quarantine/isolation, c. identification and management of mental health issues and d. psychological first aid and vulnerable groups like migrant populations. An assignment was required to be completed after each sub-module. Participants with a cumulative score of 80% or more received an e-certificate. The course co-ordinators underwent a 4-6 hour training in e-learning. Moodle (Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment), an open-source software, was customized and utilized as learning management system for current training (Brandl, 2005). In our previous experience, a majority of participants used mobile phones to access learning content and to complete the mandatory assignments (Mehrotra et al., 2018). This learning platform, i.e., elearn.vknnimhans.in is a mobile friendly with an android app. We followed the revised Bloom's taxonomy, i.e., remembering, understanding, applying and analyzing, evaluating, and creating (Krathwohl and Anderson, 2009) for development of this module. During the production phase, the contents i.e. presentations, videos, audio clips and assignments (multiple choice questions, match the following and short essays) were integrated into the platform. Some of the essential topics like quarantine, assessment were developed in both Hindi and English, keeping in mind the participants’ language preferences. In the implementation phase, emails were sent to all enrolled participants regarding the steps to navigate the elearn.vknnimhans.in, use the forum for peer-led discussion and chat with course instructors, as well as co-participants. They also received a video recording on instructions to log in through the mobile phone. The course instructors joined every day, responded to the chat messages/emails, encouraged the peer-led discussions in the forum, tracked participant progress and evaluated the essay type responses. The technical team guided the technology-related issues. In the last phase, i.e., Evaluation, everyone was requested to complete a semi-structured feedback form. The following table summarizes the activities over the three weeks of the online learning. Activities Numbers of participants Expression of Interest 1100 Participated in Live NIMHANS tele-ECHO session and invited to join e-learning module 550 Filled up a brief pre-evaluation prior to join 359 Enrolled in elearn.vknnimhans.in 315 Engagement - Completed - Initiated but not Completed - Never opened 249 43 23 Scored 80% or more received e-certificate 217 Completed post-evaluation 259 As indicated in the table, seventy-nine percent of participants completed the module. This completion rate is higher in comparison to the rates reported about MOOCs (massive open online Courses). Traditionally MOOCs have reported completion rates of less than 10%. (Chamberlin and Parish, 2011). In this blended learning model, the face to face interaction took place using live tele-ECHO session. Studies have shown a blended model having better retention and learning than pure e-learning (Gambari et al., 2018). It will be speculative to comment on the high completion rate in the current e-learning without a parallel-arm. Nevertheless, the potential reasons might be the use of blended learning, the relevance of the content in the present scenario, and associated certificate of completion from the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS). NIMHANS is a premier institute under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for patient care and academic pursuit in the sphere of mental health and neurosciences. Time constraint and internet connectivity were the most frequent reasons reported for being not able to complete (13.6%) or not opening at all (7.3%). The COVID 19 pandemic is already changing many aspects of our lives, and one of them is the process of knowledge acquisition and diffusion. There is thus potential to expand this ubiquitous, learner-centered, mobile-based e-learning in various other areas of mental health, not only during this pandemic, but beyond it. Financial Disclosure None Declaration of Competing Interest None