Building educator confidence, through training workshops, to deliver structured self-management education for type 2 diabetes and pre-diabetes virtually during the covid-19 pandemic

Objective: To provide training and support to build confidence of educators delivering an adapted portfolio of diabetes education and self-management for ongoing and newly diagnosed (DESMOND) structured education programmes (i.e. newly diagnosed and foundation programme, let's prevent diabetes, and walking away from diabetes) during the covid-19 pandemic. Methods: The DESMOND curriculums and resources were adapted from face to face delivery to support virtual delivery, but remain congruent to the theoretical and philosophical underpinning of the interventions and content. A virtual DESMOND academy was established offering a portfolio of 2 hour workshops (delivered through MS TEAMS) to support existing DESMOND educators with confidence to set up and deliver bespoke DESMOND programmes. Workshops included a demonstration of visual resources available to support virtual delivery and discussions about how to use behaviour change techniques based on the DESMOND philosophy and learning theories virtually. Attendees provided feedback via an online survey. Results: To date (18.01.2021) 47 workshops have been delivered to 329 attendees. Post-training surveys show: 95% of attendees rated the workshop as useful/very useful and 84% felt more confident to deliver virtually afterwards. Aspects of training reported as most useful were;an overview of the visual aids, facilitation skills for virtual delivery and sharing good practice. The main concern was the use of, and access to, reliable technology by educators and participants. Conclusions: Workshops designed to build confidence of educators to deliver self-management education virtually are effective in increasing educator confidence. Technology skills and access are concerns that need to be further addressed.