Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) Opportunities in Health Education (HE) in a mandatory social isolation context

Abstract

Background: Routine care for prevention and health promotion has reduced significantly due to the Covid-19 pandemic and mandatory social isolation measures. In this context, it is necessary to identify and describe Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) that provide opportunities for health education, promotion, and prevention aimed at the general population. The study is a systematic review of MOOCs on health education, health promotion, and prevention for the general population in a pandemic context. Methods: We developed a search for MOOC courses aimed at the general population on health education, health promotion, and prevention in different available MOOC platforms. We executed a descriptive analysis of the main characteristics of the selected MOOCs. Terms such as healthy living, physical activity, healthy eating, mental health, and variants aimed at the general population were explored. We did not include advanced or specialized studies aimed only at professionals that required prior knowledge. A descriptive analysis of the main characteristics of the selected MOOCs was performed. Results: There were 117 MOOCs chosen on health education, promotion, and prevention for the general population. Coursera (40.3%) was the platform that offered the highest quantity of MOOCs; more than half of the MOOCs were in English (52.9%). The median (interquartile range) duration of the selected MOOCs was 11 (6–15) hours. The predominant themes were "Health promotion" (43%) and "Food and nutrition" (31%), and the origin was mainly from Europe (37.8%). Conclusions: Potentially MOOCs could improve access to massive open online public health courses. Adaptation to different languages and topics needed for each context could increase access to important health promotion messages, even outside of "times of pandemic and enforced social isolation".