A Qualitative Evaluation of an Online Expert-Facilitated Course on Tobacco Dependence Treatment:

Qualitative evaluations of courses prove difficult due to low response rates. Online courses may permit the analysis of qualitative feedback provided by health care providers (HCPs) during and after the course is completed. This study describes the use of qualitative methods for an online continuing medical education (CME) course through the analysis of HCP feedback for the purpose of quality improvement. We used formative and summative feedback from HCPs about their self-reported experiences of completing an online expert-facilitated course on tobacco dependence treatment (the Training Enhancement in Applied Cessation Counselling and Health [TEACH] Project). Phenomenological, inductive, and deductive approaches were applied to develop themes. QSR NVivo 11 was used to analyze the themes derived from free-text comments and responses to open-ended questions. A total of 277 out of 287 participants (96.5%) completed the course evaluations and provided 690 comments focused on how to improve the program. Five t...