Development and Evaluation of a Self-Instructional Curriculum for Physicians' Assistants

Abstract

A self-instructional mental health curriculum for physicians' assistants is currently being developed at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Described are the three basic components that entered into the development process: needs assessment, design and development, and field testing and evaluation. As a result of a needs assessment survey of practicing physicians' assistants and educators, psychiatrists and other practitioners, a design for fourteen self-instructional modules was set. The development effort utilized an instructional developer, evaluator and content expert. Each module is information-mapped, with objectives, activities and tests. Also described in the article are evaluation procedures used during the developmental stage and plans for the field testing of the curriculum and future activities.

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