Report on the Blended Short-Term Supplementary Course "Developmental Care for Infants and Toddlers" Held with a Multidisciplinary Approach for Pediatricians - A Mixed Methods Study
Authors: Heidarabadi Seifollah , Barzegar Mohammad , Hazrati Hakimeh , Shahrokhi Hassan , Nemati Shahrooz , Khiabani Nahideh Hasani , maleki Zahra 
Published: March 2022

BackgroundThe follow-up of high-risk infants and toddlers to identify developmental delay and disorders as soon as possible and start early intervention leads to the improved developmental status of these children, reduced cost of caring for these children in the coming years, and their improved productivity in society. There is a lack of trained specialists in the field of infant and toddler development in Iran. To meet the lack, for the first time, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences has designed a short-term supplementary course "Developmental Care for Infants and Toddlers". Due to the multidisciplinary nature of the field of child development, this course has been designed to be multidisciplinary. The present study aims to evaluate this course and explain the graduates' experiences of this course with a multidisciplinary approach.MethodsThe present study is mixed methods research (quantitative/qualitative) which was carried out in two steps. In the first step, the learners were asked to assess the short-term supplementary course "Developmental Care for Infants and Toddlers" in 5 areas of "educational design", "course administrators' support", "motivation of learners", "acquisition of general learning and specialized skills" using the Australian Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ). All graduates completed the questionnaires. The data from the questionnaires were analyzed using descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation in SPSS software. The second step was a qualitative study carried out using content analysis. The samples were selected using a purposive sampling technique. The samples were those who had completed the course abovementioned, had rich experiences in this field, and were willing to share their experiences. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed using conventional content analysis.ResultsIn general, the graduates' satisfaction with the course in terms of the 5 areas studied was evaluated as follows: educational design (75.54±5.77), course administrators' support (78.12±16.17), motivation of learners (92.31±19.34), acquisition of general learning (86.97±19.25), and acquisition of specialized skills (92.70±11.34), with the highest satisfaction with the "acquisition of specialized skills". In the area of education design, the highest satisfaction was observed with the appropriateness of teaching strategies. The codes extracted from the analysis of interviews with the graduates, are divided into four categories: "Ethical and professional commitment of course teachers", "Being a role model in the observance of patients and their caregivers' rights", "Course planning with a multidisciplinary approach and teamwork" and "The use of virtual platforms to strengthen and maintain team communication between learners".ConclusionThis course was the first experience of applying an interdisciplinary approach in an interprofessional course. To advance educational and therapeutic goals, the Iranian medical education system should distance itself from specialism to connect all related specialties and disciplines. The design of this course can be considered an educational model for other disciplines and clinical courses.