Background

DESMOND, a self-management program for people with type 2 diabetes began in Western Australia in 2011 and has subsequently extended across Australia and New Zealand. National standards for structured self-management education programs require a quality development (QD) process. DESMOND has a rigorous QD framework which extends across all aspects of the program. DESMOND Educators are expected to proceed along an Educator QD pathway to gain Accredited DESMOND Educator status. To complete a 360 degree view of this process, DESMOND QD Assessors are also involved in a QD process through formal feedback from the DESMOND Educator.

Aim

To collect feedback from DESMOND Educators about their experiences with their DESMOND QD Assessor providing a 360 degree view of the process.

Methodology

The success and fidelity of the program is dependent on successful delivery by Educators. Quality Development of DESMOND Educators uses a set of indicators and tools to benchmark performance. In addition, following completion of each phase of the Accreditation process, Educators are asked to complete a 10 question Assessor Competency Form which provides feedback from the Educator on various Assessors competencies. DESMOND Educators complete the Assessor Competency Form using a 5 point Likert Scale (1 = poor & 5= excellent) for each of the Competencies. This feedback is sought following both the Mentoring and Final QD Assessment stages of their Accreditation process.

Results

Overwhelmingly Educators have responded very positively with scores of 4 and 5 and with many providing additional positive comments.

Conclusion

These initial results demonstrate the point of difference of the DESMOND program. Not only is it often the first time in an Educators professional career that they have been subjected to a formal QD process of their education delivery but also the DESMOND QD Assessors themselves are similarly involved in an ongoing process of QD by Educators.