[afro-nets] Internet access and ICT training for health workers in sub-Saharan Africa - a questionnaire

["Leonard A Rhine" <rhinel@ufl.edu>]

Internet access and ICT training for health workers in sub-Saharan Africa - a questionnaire
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Dear colleagues,

We have developed a brief questionnaire about Internet access and ICT training for health workers in sub-Saharan Africa and would like you to complete this survey.  The results will be presented at the 10th AHILA Congress, Mombassa, Kenya in October 2006. 

The objective of this study is to appraise the level of Internet access to information and technical ability of health workers in sub-Saharan Africa who participate in three email discussion groups  - AHILA-NET, HIF-NET and AFRO-NET.   The research will answer three major questions:  Do the respondents have sufficient access to the Internet-based information, what trainings have they received and what further training is needed?

The data gathering is geared towards individuals that have some level of Internet access and, regarding this specific group, will measure the impact of this type of health information and assess the level of ICT training.  The data will be useful for understanding the current impact of the Internet and training/capacity building for the dissemination of health information in sub-Saharan Africa.

We ask that you kindly complete the enclosed questionnaire by 1 August.  Please return your responses to rhinel@ufl.edu and agajuwon@yahoo.com.  The completion of the 20+ questions should take approximately 10-15 minutes.  Please excuse us for any cross posting.

Yours truly,

Grace Ajuwon MLS, Reference and Information Services Librarian,
E. Latunde Odeku Medical Library, College of Medicine,
University of Ibadan, Nigeria

Lenny Rhine, Ph.D. Emeritus University Librarian, University of
Florida


*****

Name (optional): __________________________________

Position (optional): ________________________________

Institution (optional): ______________________________

Section 1:  Internet Access

1.	At work, do you have access to the Internet?
a.	yes___      no___
(If yes, continue with questions #2-4; if no, go to question #5)

2.	Is the Internet access via:
a.	phone line/modem ___
b.	dedicated link within the organization to an Internet Service Provider ___
c.	internal link within the organization to a server with satellite access ___
d.	direct link to a server with satellite access ___
e.	network link via a consortia ___
f.	other (please specify) _____________________________________
g.	don?t know ___

3.	Describe the reliability of your Internet access at work:
a.	very good ___
b.	good ___
c.	average ___
d.	poor ___
e.	very poor ___

4.	Describe the Internet speed at your institution/organization:
a.	very good ___
b.	good ___
c.	average ___
d.	poor ___
e.	very poor  ___

5.	What are your uses of the Internet (check one or more):
a.	email ? work related ___
b.	email ? personal ___
c.	searching for information ? work related ___
d.	searching for information ? personal ___
e.	reading fulltext documents ? work related ___
f.	reading fulltext documents ? personal ___
g.	other (please specify) _________________________

6.	Pertaining to health information, have you used the following resources?
a.	PubMed/Medline     never ___ sometimes ___ often ___
b.	Google (for searching)     never ___ sometimes ___ often ___
c.	other search engines     never ___ sometimes ___ often ___
        Please specify: ____________________________________
d.	HINARI     never ___ sometimes ___ often ___
e.	other fulltext journal sources  (PERI)   never ___ sometimes ___ often ___
        Please specify: ____________________________________
f.      INASP health links (gateway)     never ___ sometimes ___ often ___
g.      other gateways     never ___ sometimes ___ often ___
        Please specify: ____________________________________
h.	WHO/Geneva website     never ___ sometimes ___ often ___
i.	other organizational websites     never ___ sometimes ___ often ___
        Please specify: ____________________________________
j.	AHILA-NET, HIF-NET or AFRO-NET  discussion groups
        never ___ sometimes ___ often___
k.	other email discussion groups     never ___ sometimes ___ often ___
        Please specify: ____________________________________
l.	other Internet resources (please specify):  ______________________
        ________________________________________________________

7.	Note the types of health related information you use:
a.	clinical     never ___ sometimes ___ often ___
b.	research     never ___ sometimes ___ often ___
c.	consumer health     never ___ sometimes ___ often ___
d.	preventive medicine     never ___ sometimes ___ often ___
e.	public health    never ___ sometimes ___ often ___
f.	administrative and/or policy     never ___ sometimes ___ often ___
g.	other (please specify) _____________________________

8.  If you do not have access at work, how do you obtain access to the Internet?
a.	Internet caf?___
b.	at home___
c.	at a friend?s house___
d.	other (please specify)________________________________

Section 2: Training

1.     How did you first learn to use electronic resources (check one or more)?
a.	Self-taught (reading books/ articles, tutorials, etc) ___
b.	From family, friend or colleague ___
c.	Short course (paid) ___
d.	Library training ___
e.	An in-house training at place of work ___
f.	Part of an Undergraduate/Postgraduate course ___
g.	Others (please specify) 
__________________________________________

2.     Have you ever received formal training in the use of Information and
        Communication Technology (ICT)?
a.	 yes___      no___

3.     If yes, did you receive such training in the last one year?
a.     yes___      no___

4.	Please select the skills you obtained from this training (check one or more):
a.      Microsoft Office (Word, Access, Excel or Power Point, etc) ____
b.	E-mail / Internet ____
c.	Search online databases such as MEDLINE/PUBMED ____
d.	Retrieve and download full articles from HINARI and/or other free resources ____
e.   How to use search engines ____
f.      Digitization processes ____
g.      Database design ____
h.      Copyright / data protection laws ____
i.      Computer-mediated communication (e.g. online discussion lists) ____
j.      HTML / XML or other Web design software ____
k.      JAVA / JAVASCRIPT or another computer programming language ____
l.      Other  (please specify) ________________________________________

5.  Have any of the following factors prevented you from attending an ICT training course?   (Please tick either Yes or No in each of the options)
                       Yes	No
a.    Lack of budget for staff training courses at current workplace
b.	 Pressures of current workload -------------------------------------
c.	 No courses at any locations nearby -------------------------------
d.	 Personal / family commitments   ----------------------------------
e.    Other (please specify)  ---------------------------------------------

6.  Do you require further training on ICTs to enable you perform 
your job effectively?
	a.. yes____   no____

7. If yes, which of the following areas would you like to receive further training?	(Please tick either Yes or No in each of the options)	
                      Yes	 No
a.	Microsoft Office (Word, Access, Excel or Power Point) -----
b.   E-mail / Internet  ----------------------------------------------------
c.   Online information searching and retrieval ---------------------
d.   Digitization processes ----------------------------------------------
e.	Database design  ----------------------------------------------------
f.    Web development (HTML / XML or other Web design software)
g.   Computer-mediated communication (e.g. online discussion lists) 
h.   Others (please specify) ---------------------------------------------

8. Which training format do you prefer (check one or more)?
a.	Online training via email ___
b.	Face to face with an instructor ___
c.	Power Point presentations___
d.	Practical training involving hands-on___

9.  With a scale of 1-5 (with 5 being expert and 1 unable to use), rate your competence in the use of  the following?
     Expert            Beginner              Unable
     5	     4              3        2 	          1       0
CD-ROM databases (MEDLINE)       ------   -------       -------  --------   --------   --------
Internet /Web -------  -------       -------  --------    --------  --------
E-mail          -------  -------      -------  --------    
--------  --------
E-mail discussion list or groups  -------  -------     -------  --------    --------  ---------
Search engines 			 --------  -------    --------  -------     -------  ----------
Online databases (PubMed)	  --------  -------    --------   --------  -------  ----------
Online journals (HINARI)	  -------  --------    --------   --------  ------- -----------

10.	How useful will you find training in each of the following?

   Essential	  Useful	Not useful          No opinion
Using computers		          -----------     ---------	 ------------	  --------------
Searching CD-ROM databases        -----------    ---------       ------------	 ---------------
Finding information on the Internet ---------  ---------	 ------------	 ---------------
Evaluating information on the Internet -------  ---------	 ------------	 ---------------
Searching online databases	  ------------    ---------	 ------------	 ---------------
Using online journals		   -----------    ---------	 ------------	 ---------------
Using EBM information services     ------------  ---------	 ------------	 ---------------

Section 3: Background

1.	Check the category that best defines your position
a.	health information worker ___
b.	health worker (doctor, nurse)___
c.	health officer___
d.	health administrator___
e.	health ministry personnel___
f.	ngo employee___
g.	other (please specify)_______________

2.	If you are a health information worker or officer, specify the users of the information you obtain (check one or more):
a.	yourself ___
b.	clinical staff ___
c.	research staff ___
d.	administrative/management staff ___
e.	governmental staff ___
f.	ngo staff ___
g.	consumers ___
h.	others (please specify) ________________________

3.	How long have you been employed in this position?
a.	less than one year___
b.	one to four years___
c.	five to nine years___
d.	ten or more years___

4.	Note the country you live in and the type of environment
a.	country ____________
b.	capitol___   satellite city or large town___   rural area___

5.	How did you receive information about this questionnaire?(check one or more)
a.	AHILA-NET ___
b.	HIF-NET ___
c.	AFRO-NET___
d.	other (please specify) _________________________

Please return to:

Lenny Rhine rhinel@ufl.edu
Grace Ajuwon  agajuwon@yahoo.com

--
Lenny Rhine & Grace Ajuwon  
mailto:agajuwon@yahoo.com
mailto:rhinel@ufl.edu