title: "Maternal Health and Family Planning Distance Education" experience among physicians: a three-phase study to determine the educational needs, develop education program, and evaluate efficacy of the education administered.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study aims to assess the educational needs of family practitioners and evaluate the efficacy of the ongoing "Maternal Health and Family Planning Distance Education" program conducted by the General Directorate of Health Research (SAGEM) of the Turkish Ministry of Health.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study consisted of three phases. In the first phase, an online survey on maternal health and family planning educational needs was sent to 20,611 physicians via e-mail. Of the 20,611 physicians, 4,729 completed the survey. In the second phase, of the 1,061 physicians registered to the education program, 632 physicians with active participation were included. In the third phase, the preeducation expectations of 287 physicians and posteducation satisfaction of 54 physicians were analyzed with a questionnaire.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The majority of the physicians were employed in a family health center (97.4%) and practicing for 16-20 years (23.2%) without any prior in-service training (60.9%). High-to-very high educational need was expressed by 56.4% of physicians for pregnancy, delivery, and puerperality. Topics that the physicians, including both those with ≥16 years in practice and without prior in-service training, expressed need for more detailed content were pregnancy, delivery, and puerperality (37.5%); emergency obstetric approach in the primary care setting (33.1%); and gynecological infectious diseases and treatment approach (32.4%). Following the education program, the participants' expectations were fulfilled in terms of refreshing their knowledge, particularly in the field of Maternal Health and Family Planning (87.1% and 75.9%) and the percentage of participants who expressed that they had sufficient high level knowledge increased from 55% to 68.5%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The education on Maternal Health and Family Planning refreshed the knowledge of participants and highly met the preeducation expectations. Determining the educational needs and expectations of the target population prior to the education program seems to have an important role on determining its overall success.
authors.affiliation: General Directorate of Health Research (SAGEM), Turkish Ministry of Health, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Bestami
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ciftci
authors.affiliation: General Directorate of Health Research (SAGEM), Turkish Ministry of Health, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Nesibe
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Uzel
authors.affiliation: Bayer Türk Kimya San Ltd, Şti, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: M Onur
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: Ozel
authors.affiliation: General Directorate of Health Research (SAGEM), Turkish Ministry of Health, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Sema
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zergeroglu
authors.affiliation: Bayer Türk Kimya San Ltd, Şti, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Cetin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Deger
authors.affiliation: General Directorate of Health Research (SAGEM), Turkish Ministry of Health, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: S Sare
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Turasan
authors.affiliation: General Directorate of Health Research (SAGEM), Turkish Ministry of Health, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ayse Gul
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Karakoc
authors.affiliation: General Directorate of Health Research (SAGEM), Turkish Ministry of Health, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Semra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ozbalci
keywords: education level; education program; expectations; family planning; maternal health; physician education