Using implementation intentions to teach practitioners: changing practice behaviors via continuing education.
OBJECTIVE
This study evaluated the effectiveness of implementation intentions on increasing the use of a practice behavior among mental health practitioners who attended a one-day continuing education class.


METHODS
Seventy-eight practitioners were randomly assigned to one of two classes on psychiatric advance directives. One class incorporated instruction in implementation intentions (N=40) and the other class did not (N=38). Implementation intention training involved having the participants describe the best time and place to use a practitioner-guided procedure to assist consumers to complete a psychiatric advance directive. Use of the practitioner-guided procedure was the dependent variable in this study. Use of the procedure in practice was assessed three months after the class via an electronic self-report survey.


RESULTS
There were no statistically significant differences between the two class conditions in participant characteristics or preclass or postclass knowledge of and intentions to use the procedure. Fifty-four participants (69%) responded to the three-month follow-up survey, indicating that they had used the practitioner-guided procedure. The results of the follow-up survey showed that overall those attending the class that incorporated implementation intentions used the practitioner-guided procedure significantly more often than those in the other class (80% versus 58%). The effect of implementation intentions on utilization of the practitioner-guided procedure was evident among practitioners whose postclass intentions were high but below the median for the overall sample (chi(2)=7.1, df=1, p<.01). Implementation rates among practitioners with the highest post-class intentions were equivalent in the two class conditions.


CONCLUSIONS
Incorporating implementation intentions into continuing education classes can increase the use of practices taught in these classes among well-motivated practitioners.
Casper
Edward S
ES
Department of Psychiatry, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19124-2399, USA. ecasper@nyc.rr.com
D016223:Advance Directives; D004496:Education, Continuing; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D019983:Guideline Adherence; D006282:Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D033182:Intention; D008605:Mental Health Services; D010414:Pennsylvania; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D011582:Psychological Theory; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires