title: Impact of an online educational program on pharmacy students' knowledge of folic acid and neural tube defects.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Pharmacy students must receive adequate training regarding folic acid for the prevention of neural tube defects (NTDs). Pharmacy students' knowledge should be evaluated and effective methods utilized to improve it, if needed. The objective of this study was to assess baseline knowledge among third-year students in a 0-6 Doctor of Pharmacy program and to evaluate the impact of an online educational video.
  
  
  METHODS
  Baseline knowledge was assessed by a pretest adapted with permission from the March of Dimes (MOD). Students watched a 30-minute MOD video and completed a posttest. Nine months later, students completed a longitudinal posttest. Analysis of variance was used to assess differences in the percentage of correct responses to each question.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 133 (90.5%) students completed the educational program and 105 (78.9%) completed the longitudinal test. Statistically significant improvements in knowledge from baseline were seen for 9 of 10 questions on the posttest and for 6 of 10 questions on the longitudinal test.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Online videos are tools to teach pharmacy students key information regarding folic acid and NTD; however, material should be reinforced in experiential education as well. Counseling women of childbearing potential about folic acid fulfills an important public health need.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy Practice, Raabe College of Pharmacy, Ohio Northern University, Ada, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Margarita
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bykhovsky
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy Practice, Raabe College of Pharmacy, Ohio Northern University, Ada, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Mary Frances K
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Meier
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy Practice, Raabe College of Pharmacy, Ohio Northern University, Ada, OH, USA n-dipietro@onu.edu.
authors.forename: Natalie A DiPietro
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Mager
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D020375:Education, Distance / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005492:Folic Acid / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D009436:Neural Tube Defects / Q000517:prevention & control*; D018794:Problem-Based Learning; D013339:Students, Pharmacy
chemical_list: D005492:Folic Acid
keywords: folic acid; maternal and child health; neural tube defect; pharmacy student; public health