Massive open online course (mooc) on rehabilitation care for people with autism spectrum disorder: An evaluation from nutritionists

Abstract

This paper aims to present the evaluation of nutritionists about a MOOC focused on the rehabilitation care of people with ASD. This is a cross-sectional and descriptive study, in which were included nutritionists professionals who completed the course in the virtual learning environment (SaiteAVA) of UNA-SUS/ UFMA. Data collection was performed using three standardized questionnaires, these data were analyzed using STATA software, version 14.0 (StataCorp LP, College Station, United States). Among the professional nutritionists who completed the course, most were female (88.3%), had ten years or more of training (29.1%), were not SUS workers (54.3%), and resided in the southeast region (36.4%). In addition, they had good skills in using Digital Information and Communication Technologies (DTIC) (48.5%) and approximately one third of the nutritionists were seeking professional updating or improvement (33.0%). The positive evaluations of the course highlighted the content covered and the importance of the course for professional training and the negative ones revealed the difficulties in the navigability of the course. It was concluded that most nutritionists enjoyed the course positively, besides demonstrating that the MOOC tool has the potential to update professionals about TEA.