EFFECTIVENESS OF COMPUTER-BASED TRAINING: CTRAIN

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DESCRIPTION: US corporations spend between $55 and $60 billion per year to provide almost 2 billion hours of training to an estimated 60 million employees. Over 100 OSHA workplace standards have been identified that require training to minimize the risk of disease or injury. However, health and safety specialists have few tools to inexpensively produce effective and customized training that ensures competency at completion, and can be readily revised. We have developed, as a tool to fill this gap, cTRAIN, a computer-based training program that is founded on proven behavioral training principles. cTRAIN consists of both the computer-based training program to teach the information and a "screenbuilder" development environment for entering content to create new programs. It features intuitive navigation and operation, automatic (computer-generated) spoken English or Spanish as continuously available on/off options for all text (entered in the appropriate language) plus a voice recording option (allowing other languages), self-pacing, immediate feedback on quiz items and a post-test with a simple report on performance. Complementing the training program is a durable "9BUTTON" response input unit that does not put off the poorly educated (as do computer keyboards), as well as a keyboard option. A systematic evaluation of cTRAIN's effectiveness as an intervention technique (NORA priority) will assess, in majority and minority (Latino) workers, the basic training principles which are built into the training program (eg, specific vs. generic feedback, computer-generated vs. recorded natural speech). Coincident with these experiments, new cTRAIN programs (hazard communication, sharps disposal, lab safety, eye and tractor safety) will be developed by content experts and reviewed for both educational effectiveness (consistency with established behavioral training principles) and appropriate content. The new programs will then be presented to volunteer Caucasian and Latino employees in education, construction, hospitals, and nurseries (agriculture) (NORA priority: special populations). Learned knowledge (competency) after training and 3 months later will be assessed with the post-test (to assess retention) as compared to the pre-test (same test). The effectiveness of the training will also be evaluated by measuring behavioral change after training as compared to the same behaviors measured prior to training. In addition, feedback will be elicited from content experts to evaluate the potential for adoption of the computer-based training program and the "screenbuilder" environment.