NCT01168323

Spaced Education to Optimize Prostate Cancer Screening

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 95 (actual)
• Sponsor: Harvard University Faculty of Medicine · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Two memory research findings (the spacing and testing effects) can dramatically improve retention of learning, but they have largely have been ignored by educators. The researchers have developed a novel form of online education (termed 'spaced education') based on these two effects which has been shown in randomized trials to improve knowledge acquisition and boost learning retention. Using prostate cancer screening as an experimental system, the researchers investigated whether spaced education could durably improve clinicians' behaviors, not just their knowledge.

Conditions

• Prostate Cancer

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Online spaced education	Spaced education is currently delivered via periodic emails that contain clinical case scenarios and multiple-choice questions. Upon submitting answers to each question online, clinicians receive immediate feedback and educational material. The questions are then repeated over spaced intervals of time to harness the pedagogical benefits of the spacing effect.

Timeline

• Start date: 2007-01-01
• Primary completion: 2009-02-01
• Completion: 2009-02-01
• First posted: 2010-07-23
• Last updated: 2010-08-09

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States