The emerging public health issue of Image and Performance drug use

Evaluating the acceptability and usefulness of a Performance and Image Enhancing Drugs e-learning module

The Public Health Institute (PHI), Liverpool John Moores University, invite you to take part in a research project entitled ‘Evaluating the acceptability and usefulness of a Performance and Image Enhancing Drugs e-learning module’, which is funded by the European Commission’s ERASMUS+ programme.

The e-learning module was designed by the Dopinglinkki organisation in Finland and aims to support professional learning among health care workers (e.g. GPs, Nurses, psychiatrists) who may come into contact with performance and image enhancing drug (PIED) users as part of their work. It provides introductory information to inform the first stages of professional learning in order to improve knowledge and understanding of PIEDs, and potential harms. It further aims to improve the competence and confidence of professionals so that they are better able to engage with and respond to the health needs of people who may use PIEDs.

PHI are undertaking an evaluation of the module to understand whether the module is appropriate for use in UK settings, and what changes are needed to improve the acceptability and usefulness of the module for a UK audience. These findings will help the developers further refine the module, with a view to making it freely available for use at the end of the overall project in 2020.

Participation is voluntary and your involvement in the study will be kept confidential. You will be asked to work through the module and complete some of the self-learning and assessment exercises. The module will take no longer than 2 hours to complete and it can be completed in more than one session. You will then be asked to complete a short questionnaire to provide your feedback and will be given the opportunity to provide more detailed feedback in an interview if you have the time.

This study has received ethical approval from LJMU’s Research Ethics Committee.

Please note
To be eligible to take part in this research, you must be working in a professional role which may put you in contact with individuals who may use PIEDs.

If you have any questions, please contact Dr Amanda Atkinson a.m.atkinson@ljmu.ac.uk

Instructions for participation

  1. The e-learning module can be accessed here
    We recommend either Google Chrome or Firefox browsers to access the module.
  2. You will be asked to create a user ID, and a confirmation email will be sent to the e-mail address provided. Please note that the message may be redirected to your junk folder so please check if you haven’t received it.
  3. After confirming your user ID by clicking the emailed link, click on the UK course name- ‘UK: PIEDs in the Work of a Healthcare Provider’. You will need to provide the following key ID to access the content 18PDS!uk so please make a note of this.
  4. Once you have completed the e-learning module, you will be asked to complete an online survey where we will ask you about your experience of using the e-learning module. The survey will take no longer than 20 minutes to complete. A link to the survey is provided in the module, but can also be accessed here
  5. Within the survey you will also be asked whether you would be interested in taking part in a follow up interview (e.g. via telephone) with a member of the research team, to gain further information on your experiences of the e-module and areas of improvement.