Supporting interdisciplinary mental health professionals through online professional development: eleven years of the MHPN webinar program in Australia

ABSTRACT

Objective

The Mental Health Professionals’ Network (MHPN) has been delivering webinars for professionals working in primary mental health care in Australia since 2010. This study aimed to investigate changes in engagement in and outcomes of MHPN webinars over 11 years from 2010 to 2020.

Method

Over 11-years, 75 webinars were delivered by a multi-disciplinary panel of mental health professionals, using a case-study format to stimulate discussion of collaborative care. Attendees were invited to complete a post-webinar online questionnaire to assess webinar effectiveness and impacts on work practice. Change over time was assessed using chi-square tests and analysis of variance.

Results

From 53,468 webinar attendances, 30,617 (57.3%) questionnaires were collated and analysed. There was a steady and significant increase in webinar attendance over time. The degree to which learning needs were met increased significantly over time, as did the relevance of the webinars and their anticipated impacts on improving work practice.

Discussion

The findings indicate that practitioner engagement in MHPN webinars and the associated positive impacts on work practice have both increased over the past decade. By improving the knowledge, attitudes and practice of mental health professionals, MHPN plays an important role in improving mental health promotion, prevention, early detection and treatment in Australia.

KEYWORDS:

• Mental health
• interdisciplinary training
• continuing professional development
• online learning
• online education

Acknowledgements

The MHPN initiative is funded by the Australian Commonwealth Department of Health. We gratefully acknowledge the ongoing support of the MHPN Board of Directors, the member organisations (APS, RACGP, RANZCP and ACMHN) and partner organisations (AASW, OTA and ACRRM), the current and past MHPN staff members, and our research participants.

Data availability

Details on data access are available from the corresponding author.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

MHPN is funded by the Australian Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care. All activities related to the development, delivery and evaluation of the webinars outlined in this manuscript have been funded by the Australian Commonwealth Department of Health.