Evaluation of a Webinar to Increase Health Professionals' Knowledge about Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS)

Abstract

Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a severe chronic illness and patients with ME/CFS are often medically underserved in Germany and  other countries. One contributing factor is health professionals' lack of  knowledge about epidemiology, diagnostic criteria, and treatment of ME/CFS.  Opportunities are scarce for health professionals to receive continuing medical  education on ME/CFS. The current research addressed this need for further  education and investigated the gain of knowledge from a webinar for  German-speaking health professionals. In two studies (total sample: N = 378),  participants in the intervention condition completed a knowledge test twice  (before and after webinar participation). Study 2 also included a waiting-list  control condition with repeated response to the knowledge test without webinar  participation between measurements. Results showed that at baseline, most  participants had seen patients with ME/CFS, but confidence in diagnosing and  treating ME/CFS was only moderate-to-low. In the intervention condition, but not  in the control condition, knowledge about ME/CFS increased between the first and  the second knowledge test. These results indicate that the webinar was successful  in increasing health professionals' knowledge about ME/CFS. We concluded that  webinars can be a cost-efficient and effective tool in providing health  professionals with large-scale continuing medical education about ME/CFS.