ObjectiveTo assess the impact of the distance education course “Sickle Cell Disease: Primary Health Care Line” on knowledge acquisition of professional healthcare providers.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted with a quantitative approach at the Educational and Support Center for Hemoglobinopathies (Cehmob-MG), state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, in 2016. One hundred and fifty-three out of 300 professional healthcare providers were invited to participate in the proposed distance course. Of the participating professional healthcare providers, 72 (47%) successfully concluded the course (Group A), whereas 81 (53%) did not complete their course assignments and did not meet the minimum requirements for regular attendance (Group B). Knowledge acquisition was assessed with the Knowledge of Sickle Cell Disease Instrument, DFConhecimento, applied using the web tool eSurv. Univariate analysis by Poisson regression was employed to assess the influence of sociodemographic variables on the DFConhecimento score and to select variables to compose the initial multivariate regression model (p-value < 0.20). The analysis was performed in the statistical programming environment R.ResultsThe average score was 9.76 for Group A and 6.54 for Group B. The two groups were considered statistically different (p-value < 0.05) for all items with the proportion of correct items being greater in Group A. Professional healthcare providers who concluded the course had a significantly higher DFConhecimento score (45%) when compared to those who did not successfully conclude the course.ConclusionParticipation in a distance education course on sickle cell disease had a positive impact on the acquisition of knowledge about the disease by professional healthcare providers.

Objective To develop and validate DFConhecimento , an instrument to assess Brazilian healthcare professional providers’ knowledge on sickle cell disease. Method Study carried out in four stages: (1) instrument development; (2) content validation by an Expert Committee; (3) cultural adequacy check at pre-test; (4) instrument reliability analysis by healthcare professional providers supported by Intraclass Correlation Coefficient calculation. The data for content validation and reliability analyses were collected through the web tool eSurv and analyzed within the statistical software and environment R. Results The instrument, consisting of 13 multiple-choice questions, showed acceptability, with an average Content Validity Index of 0.88. The reliability analysis showed moderate agreement (0.67) indicating that test-retest reproducibility is acceptable. Conclusion The instrument DFConhecimento showed reliability and internal consistency, proving suitable for measuring Brazilian healthcare professional providers’ acquisition of knowledge on sickle cell disease.