JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Supporting patients to live well by optimizing behavior is a core tenet of primary health care. General practitioners and practice nurses experience barriers to behavior change interventions for lifestyle behaviors, including low self-efficacy in their ability to enact change. Online learning technologies are readily available for general practitioners and practice nurses; however, opportunities to upskill in behavior change are still limited. Understanding what influences general practitioners' and practice nurses' adoption of online learning is crucial to enhancing the quality and impact of behavior change in primary health care.

Objective:

This study aimed to explore general practitioners' and practice nurses' perceptions regarding online learning to support patients with behavior change. The study comprised two objectives: (1) to explore general practitioners’ and practice nurses’ expressed needs for online learning for behavior change related to lifestyle behaviors; and (2) to explore general practitioners’ and practice nurses' perceptions of the acceptability and feasibility of an open-access online learning platform, the Queensland Health ‘Healthy Lifestyles’ suite.

Methods:

The study utilized a qualitative descriptive approach involving online, semi-structured interviews with general practitioners and practice nurses in Queensland, Australia. The interviews were recorded and transcribed using the built-in Microsoft Teams software. Inductive coding was used to generate codes from the interview data for thematic analysis.

Results:

Eleven general practitioners (n=4) and practice nurses (n=7) participated in this study. Three themes emerged from the data analysis: (1) reflecting on the provider of the ‘Healthy Lifestyles’ suite; (2) valuing the online learning content and presentation; and (3) experiencing barriers and facilitators to using the ‘Healthy Lifestyles’ suite. Provider reputation, awareness of availability, culturally tailored information, resources, content quality, usability, cost, and time were all cited as factors that impact general practitioners’ and practice nurses’ uptake of online learning.

Conclusions:

Provider reputation, awareness of availability, culturally tailored information, resources, content quality, usability, cost, and time may impact general practitioners’ and practice nurses’ adoption of online learning. This study provides insights into the features that can inform the future design of online learning for general practitioners and practice nurses.