Practice-based small group learning: how health professionals view their intention to change and the process of implementing change in practice.

Commitment-to-change (CTC) strategies used as part of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programmes have been found to influence changes in the clinical practice of health professionals. However, there is an unquestioned usage of the term 'commitment' to describe the statements made by learners specifying the changes they intend to make following CPD programmes. The Practice-based Small Group Learning (PBSGL) programme is one approach to the CPD of health professionals that includes a CTC instrument.

The practice-based small group learning approach: making evidence-based practice come alive for learners.

This paper reports the study of a pilot learning programme for the Continuing Professional Development of Practice Nurses (PNs) in Scotland. Two PN groups used the practice-based small group (PBSG) approach to learning, which is designed to encourage learning relevant to patient problems faced in day-to-day practice. Learners kept a log of their experiences of engaging in PBSG learning for three consecutive meetings.

Requesting a commitment to change: conditions that produce behavioral or attitudinal commitment.

There is a lack of clarity in the conceptualization of commitment underlying the commitment to change (CTC) procedure used by organizers of continuing education in the health professions. This article highlights the two distinct conceptualizations of commitment that have emerged in the literature outside health care education and practice. The distinction is important because different antecedent conditions produce different types and dimensions of commitment.