Evaluating the Effectiveness of Training Strategies: Performance Goals and Testing

Abstract

The Public Health Service policy, Animal Welfare Act regulations, and the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals all require that institutions provide training for personnel engaged in animal research. Most research facilities have developed training programs to meet these requirements but may not have developed ways of assessing the effectiveness of these programs. Omission of this critical activity often leads to training that is ineffective, inefficient, or unnecessary. Evaluating the effectiveness of biomedical research and animal care training should involve a combination of assessments of performance, competence and knowledge, and appropriate tests for each type of knowledge, used at appropriate time intervals. In this article, the hierarchical relationship between performance, competence, and knowledge is described. The discussion of cognitive and psychomotor knowledge includes the important distinction between declarative and procedural knowledge. Measurement of performance is described and can include a variety of indirect and direct measurement techniques. Each measurement option has its own profile of strengths and weaknesses in terms of measurement validity, reliability, and costs of development and delivery. It is important to understand the tradeoffs associated with each measurement option, and to make appropriate choices of measurement strategy based on these tradeoffs arrayed against considerations of frequency, criticality, difficulty of learning, logistics, and budget. The article concludes with an example of how these measurement strategies can be combined into a cost-effective assessment plan for a biomedical research facility.

Training in the Laboratory Animal Science Community: Strategies to Support Adult Learning

“…Looking at the big picture, effective training is not an end state but rather a step in the process to ensure that all individuals working with laboratory animals minimize the pain and distress these animals experience and, ultimately, conduct good science. For more information about the evaluation of training, see the article by Foshay and Tinkey (2007) in this issue.…”

Safety considerations for working with animal models involving human health hazards

“…In addition to training, one must also include knowledge, competence and performance in order to evaluate the effectiveness of training. Knowledge is how well students understand what is being taught; competence is demonstrating how to accomplish each task successfully under controlled circumstances; and performance is what is done under actual work conditions in the laboratory or animal facility . There are many approaches to implementing an effective training program and most institutions use a combination of activities, such as didactic sessions, online modules, personal mentoring, tests, and hands‐on demonstration.…”

Working Safely with Experimental Animals Exposed to Biohazards

“…Definitions of each of these components include the following: training provides the necessary information and instruction; knowledge is how well students understand what is being taught; competence is demonstrating how to accomplish each task successfully under controlled circumstances; and performance is what is done under actual work conditions in the laboratory or animal facility (Foshay and Tinkey, 2007). The increase in risk factors requires that personnel are highly skilled in performing all the needed tasks and can operate safely in the hazardous environment.…”