Evaluation of a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on malnutrition in older adults

Introduction  Education about malnutrition in older adults is often missing in the curricula of healthcare professionals, resulting in a lack of knowledge and awareness. As part of an EU project, we developed a MOOC about malnutrition in older adults. The aim of this study was to evaluate the MOOC focusing on knowledge gained.

Material and Methods  A cross-sectional study was conducted using a questionnaire comprising 41 questions about demographics, content and structure of the MOOC and malnutrition knowledge. The questions about malnutrition knowledge were asked before and after MOOC completion. The questionnaire was sent to all participants who completed the MOOC between February 2019 and February 2022. All variables of interest were analyzed descriptively using IBM SPSS, version 27. Chi-square tests were used to calculate the difference between malnutrition knowledge before and after course completion.

Results  1288 participants completed the MOOC and agreed to participate in the study. Mean age was 38.5 years (SD 11.4) and 87.6% were female. Most participants were from Austria (67.3%) and Germany (29.2%). The majority were nurses (66.8%), followed by dietitians (16.7%) and physicians (2.7%). 92.9% rated the structure of the course as very good/good, 90.9% rated the content as very good/good and 93.9% of the participants would recommend the course to others. The percentage of persons with good malnutrition knowledge increased from 76.1% to 89.9% after completing the MOOC (p < 0.001). Knowledge has significantly improved in all areas, but especially in medical nutrition and multi-professional collaboration. However, the malnutrition knowledge of the participants was already relatively high before the MOOC. This may support the hypothesis that MOOCs are mainly used by experienced and interested learners that have already high knowledge on the certain topic.

Conclusion  This study demonstrated the effectiveness of an evidence-based MOOC about malnutrition in older adults with regard to knowledge gain of healthcare professionals. Nutrition education should be included in the basic curricula of healthcare professionals 3. However, informal education resources such as MOOCs can also make a significant contribution to increase knowledge and offer an option for improved malnutrition management in clinical practice.

Publication History

Article published online:
26 May 2023