A randomised controlled trial investigating the efficacy of online continuing education for health professionals to improve the management of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS).

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Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a serious and debilitating illness that affects between 0.2-2.6% of the world’s population (Prins et al, 2006). There is Level One evidence indicating that graded exercise therapy (GET) and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is currently the most effective means to manage CFS (for review see Larun et al, 2015; Prince et al, 2008). Despite GET and CBT being widely acknowledged as best-practice interventions for CFS, the great majority of patients in Australia are not receiving these appropriate evidence-based interventions. Recent studies have demonstrated that the reason for this documented gap between research and practice is largely due to practicing health professionals lacking the knowledge and skills to provide appropriate care. In order to address this lack of knowledge, our group has developed a CFS Treatment Manual and accompanying DVD aimed at providing clinicians with the knowledge and skills required to effectively manage CFS. However, recent studies have documented that seeking to train clinicians simply by providing a manual is ineffective (Wiborg et al, 2014). Other barriers to continuing education of practicing clinicians include the financial expense of courses and the geographical constraints of attending training (McHugh & Barlow, 2010). The proposed study aims to conduct a randomised controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate the efficacy of the eLearning activity in improving clinician knowledge of CFS and their confidence and skills in implementing evidence-based CFS interventions.