Abstract
Substance use disorder (SUD) remains a pressing public health issue in Hong Kong, exacerbated by new substances such as etomidate. However, the previous Bachelor of Pharmacy curriculum only offers a single two-hour lecture on the pharmacology of addictive drugs, while the Bachelor of Social Work curriculum did not include the science behind addictive substances. This makes future pharmacists and social workers underprepared to manage SUD cases when they work in the community. To address the gaps, a cross-faculty Teaching Development Grant project developed an self-paced online course through an interdisciplinary and student-as-partners approach.
Thirteen educational videos were produced with a variety of genres such as drama, game show or podcast. Pharmacy students were responsible for the scientific sections on neuroscience, mechanisms of action and psychiatric effects, while social-work students contributed to counselling skills, motivational interviewing, craving management and help-seeking resource modules. Scripts were reviewed rigorously by a psychiatric pharmacist, a clinical psychologist and a registered social worker to ensure high clinical accuracy. Filming and professional editing were then handled by the multimedia team of the Medical Faculty, students as actors/ actresses, resulting in engaging and attractive materials hosted on the HKU online learning platform. Some videos will be shown in the seminar.
To facilitate students’ understanding of the course materials, Outcomes-Based Approaches to Student Learning (OBASL) was adopted. After the completion of the module, pharmacy students were assessed by a 10-minute roleplay recording assignment, where they worked in pairs to simulate real-world SUD scenarios. It encouraged them to demonstrate skills they learnt from the videos like explaining the science of addiction and harmful effects of substances, motivational interviewing, and empathetic referral, thus helping them to replicate the behaviours expected in professional pharmacy practice. Some of the examples of the role play assignment will be shown in the seminar.
Several difficulties were encountered during the course content preparation. For example, it is challenging to manage the heavy workload in script writing and validating. Luckily, they were successfully overcome through leveraging student contributions and using AI.
After the launch of the educational module, its effectiveness was evaluated using a pre–post knowledge test. It showed a statistically significant improvement in the test scores, demonstrating the measurable knowledge gain after the module. Moreover, a Likert-scale questionnaire and focus group interview were utilised to evaluate the students’ acceptance of this new learning approach. Overall the feedback was positive and it was welcomed by students.