Skills for SPR eLearning Course

OVERVIEW:Oak Grove has designed and developed 4+ hours of accredited online modules for the Department of Veterans Affairs and their National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The Skills for Psychological Recovery (SPR) course provides Veteran caregivers with an understanding of SPR, a skills-building intervention for post-disaster environments that uses components of cognitive behavioral treatments common across many diagnoses.

The SPR course provides Veteran caregivers an understanding of the core skills, collaboration techniques, and skills-building approach that promotes recovery in post-disaster settings, enabling them to be better prepared to address the effects of mass casualty, traumatic, and disaster situations. Additionally, it will allow a broader range of caregivers who work daily with Veterans to build skills that increase Veterans’ resilience.

Oak Grove designed the course to meet requirements for accreditation from the following accrediting bodies:

• American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) and California Board of Registered Nurses (CA BRN)
• American Psychological Association (APA)
• Association of Social Work Board (ASWB) and New York State Education Department, State Board of Social Work (NYSED) 

Figure 1. A screenshot of the SPR course title page.

CHALLENGES:

Oak Grove had the challenge of condensing what was previously a week-long instructor-led course down to four (4) hours of online instruction. This can still be an excessive amount of seat time in one session for a learner.

SOLUTION:

Oak Grove instructional designers worked closely with subject matter experts to create a custom, interactive course utilizing a variety of multimedia solutions. We were able to distill the large amount of content into manageable chunks of information through the creative use of interactive tips and exercises, expert and case study videos, and other engaging content. In addition, multiple worksheets were incorporated throughout the course and numerous handouts and other material from the SPR Manual were made available.

The five skills that make up SPR are not utilized sequentially in the field. SPR is implemented like a “tool kit,” where the skills selected for use depend upon the situation, the individual recipient, or both. A caregiver may use a single skill with an individual or decide that teaching more than one would be best. To that end, and to avoid excessive seat time, learners can access any lesson at any time. This option can also be helpful for those who have already taken the SPR course, either online or in person.

CLIENT:

Department of Veterans Affairs

MARKET:

Federal Government

NATURE OF WORK:

eLearning/Multimedia

RESULTS:

The resulting courseware provides caregivers with a skills-building approach they can apply both to increasing resilience in Veterans and responding to mass casualty and disaster situations. Accredited for:  ANCC, APA, ASWB, NYSED SW