Effect of Experiential Learning Program on Screening Practice for Skin Diseases Among Prison Health Volunteers: A Pilot study

Abstract

This pilot quasi-experimental one-group pretest–posttest study aimed to compare the mean scores of PHVs’ performance in skin disease screening in prisons before and after participating in an experiential learning program. The sample consisted of 20 male PHVs from Kamphaeng Phet Central Prison. The research instrument was an experiential learning program. Data collection tools included a personal information questionnaire and a skin disease screening observation checklist. These tools were validated by six experts, yielding a content validity index (CVI) of 0.91. The reliability of the observational tool was confirmed through inter-rater reliability, which showed a high reliability score of 0.96. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the Shapiro–Wilk test and the paired t-test.
The results revealed that the mean score of PHVs’ skin disease screening performance after participating in the experiential learning program (M = 17.25, SD = 1.62) was significantly higher than before participating in the program (M = 8.50, SD = 1.36), with a statistically significant difference (t = -27.761, p = .000). These findings indicate that the experiential learning program effectively enhanced the PHVs’ skills in conducting skin disease screening in the prison setting.