Form #2 Form #2 Focus group topic guide for CME project directors

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Form Approved
OMB No. 0935-XXXX
Exp. Date XX/XX/20XX

Attachment B)

Focus Group Questions for Project Directors

1. What was your level of familiarity with the EHC products prior to participating in this project?

   1. Have you used any of these products previously? In what ways?

2. Can you describe the main steps of the selection process of the EHC products that you have used in your CME?

   1. Who was involved in the selection process?

   2. Which activities did you undertake to select the EHC products?(e.g. consultation with EC-BCM; consultation with faculty; iterative process between CME topic and EHC products)

   3. Which barriers, if any, did you meet in selecting the EHC products? (e.g. limited number of EHC products for your topic; faculty preferences)

3. Did you decide to make any modifications to the products, or their content, to incorporate them into your CME activity?

   1. How did you decide about the level of change that was needed?

   2. Would these modifications amount to integration or adaptation? Or both?

   3. Which part of the EHC product was integrated into the CME material?

   4. Which part of the EHC product was adapted and how?

   5. Overall, what types of problems did you meet in integrating the EHC products in your CME activities?

4. What is your opinion of the usefulness of these products as a resource for CME activities?

   1. Were there some products that you found particularly useful? Why?

   2. Were there some products or parts of products that you found less useful? Why? (e.g., no products available for activity content; not seen as useful/applicable to target audience; product delivery issues)

5. How would you compare the information in these products (and the products themselves) to other sources of information that you have used in the past?

   1. Are they more or less useful?

   2. What are the main differences?

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6. To what extent do you see the EHC products as credible and useful in understanding the available research in areas targeted by the products?

   1. What about for identifying gaps and barriers in the evidence base? (e.g., determining effectiveness in subgroups)

7. How did you find the scope of the EHC topics?

   1. Too narrow or too broad?

   2. Did the scope of the EHC topics affected the type/level of modifications needed?

8. Can you describe how the EHC products were disseminated (are going to be disseminated) in your CME activities?

   1. Were the EHC materials distributed to the audience during the CME?

   2. Were they used only in preparing the curriculum?

   3. Was the material selected to match the needs of a specific professional category of learners?

   4. To what extend would the material be useful to other types of learners (e.g. non physicians staff)

9. Overall, what types of problems have you met (up to now) in using the EHC products in your CME activities?

   1. Have you encountered organizational barriers? (e.g. from faculty members)

   2. Have you encountered technological barriers?(e.g. in the format of the products)

   3. How have you dealt with them?

10. Based on your experience, should the usefulness of the EHC products be viewed in the context of specific CME activities? (e.g., live program activities, interactive workshops using case-based materials, regularly scheduled conferences)

    1. Are there some types of CME activities for which the EHC products could be particularly useful?

    2. Are there some types of CME activities for which the EHC products are not particularly useful?

11. Are there any enabling tools or support structures that would facilitate the use of EHC products in CME activities?

    1. Are there specific resources that need to be provided to facilitate the use of the EHC products?

12. Based on your experience, are there any ways in which these products could be improved for use in CME programming?

    1. Are there any ways to make them easier to use by faculty?

    2. Are there any ways to make them more useful to the audience?