An empirical study on outpatients' health education needs and the effectiveness of e-learning.

Health education is an important component in disease management. This study sought to understand outpatients' health education needs and explored the effectiveness of e-learning applications. A cross-section of 281 outpatients was surveyed over 2 months. First, the concept of health education and the application of e-learning technology were introduced. Second, outpatients were interviewed to learn about their perceptions, experiences, and health education needs (such as the perceptions of the importance of health education, the experience of received health education and, in their opinion, the best approach to health education). Finally, their willingness to use an e-learning technology and their satisfaction with it were investigated. It was found that gender, age, and level of education have a significant influence on patients' health education needs. Only 29.5% of outpatients felt satisfied with the traditional learning modalities. Most outpatients (72.2%) gave positive feedback about e-learning for health education. It can be concluded that there are different needs among a diverse patient population. Although some still favor health education sessions, TV programs, or posters as their source of learning, e-learning, as this study suggested, is an excellent approach to the promotion of outpatients' health.