Attitudes toward Web-based distance learning among public health nurses in Taiwan: a questionnaire survey.
BACKGROUND
Public health nurses (PHNs) often cannot receive in-service education due to limitations of time and space. Learning through the Internet has been a widely used technique in many professional and clinical nursing fields. The learner's attitude is the most important indicator that promotes learning.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to investigate PHNs' attitude toward web-based learning and its determinants.


METHODS
This study conducted a cross-sectional research design.


METHODS
369 health centers in Taiwan.


METHODS
The population involved this study was 2398 PHNs, and we used random sampling from this population. Finally, 329 PHNs completed the questionnaire, with a response rate of 84.0%.


METHODS
Data were collected by mailing the questionnaire.


RESULTS
Most PHNs revealed a positive attitude toward web-based learning (mean+/-SD=55.02+/-6.39). PHNs who worked at village health centers, a service population less than 10,000, PHNs who had access to computer facility and on-line hardware in health centers and with better computer competence revealed more positive attitudes (p<0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
Web-based learning is an important new way of in-service education; however, its success and hindering factors require further investigation. Individual computer competence is the main target for improvement, and educators should also consider how to establish a user-friendly learning environment on the Internet.
Yu
Shu
S
Institute of Health Policy and Management, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan. yushu@ym.edu.tw
Yang
Kuei-Feng
KF
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001292:Attitude to Computers; D003197:Computer Literacy; D003194:Computer-Assisted Instruction / Q000379:methods*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D020375:Education, Distance / Q000379:methods*; D004509:Education, Nursing, Continuing / Q000379:methods*; D004651:Employment; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet / Q000592:standards; D015402:Nursing Education Research; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D009740:Nursing Staff / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology*; D011637:Public Health Nursing / Q000193:education*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013624:Taiwan; D016526:Workload