The CPD Reaction Questionnaire
The CPD Reaction Questionnaire is a theory-based instrument to assess the impact of continuing professional development activities on professional behavior change.
The tool's development benefited from the support and expertise of Gaston Godin, who held a Canada Research Chair in Behaviour Change. The tool was developed at the request of, and in close collaboration with, members of the Conseil québécois de développement professionnel continu des médecins (CQDPCM) and was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). Versions of the tool exist in Swedish, Dutch, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, and other languages, and it has been adopted by several other health professions.
CPD-REACTION Mesurement Instrument
The lack of a widely accepted instrument for evaluating the impact of continuing professional development (CPD) activities on clinical practice makes it nearly impossible to compare the effectiveness of CPD activities. Using an integrated model for studying healthcare professionals’ behaviour, a knowledge translation partnership project on CPD led to the development of a comprehensive, theory-based, valid, and reliable instrument to assess the impact of accredited CPD activities on clinical practice. This tool, entitled the CPD-REACTION Questionnaire, is available in English:
User manual
View documentThis manual provides the necessary instructions for using the CPD-Reaction questionnaire. It describes the different items and constructs, as well as the methods for calculating and interpreting the questionnaire construct scores.
Questionnaire developpment
- Légaré F, Borduas F, MacLeod T, Sketris I, Campbell B, Jacques A. Partnerships for knowledge translation and exchange in the context of continuing professional development. J Contin Educ Health Prof. 2011 Summer;31(3):181-7. doi: 10.1002/chp.20125.
- Légaré F, Borduas F, Jacques A, Laprise R, Voyer G, Boucher A, Luconi F, Rousseau M, Labrecque M, Sargeant J, Grimshaw J, Godin G. Developing a theory-based instrument to assess the impact of continuing professional development activities on clinical practice: a study protocol. Implement Sci. 2011 Mar 7;6:17. doi: 10.1186/1748-5908-6-17.
- Légaré F, Borduas F, Freitas A, Jacques A, Godin G, Luconi F, Grimshaw J; CPD-KT team. Development of a simple 12-item theory-based instrument to assess the impact of continuing professional development on clinical behavioral intentions.PLoS One. 2014 Mar 18;9(3):e91013. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0091013.
- Légaré F, Freitas A, Thompson-Leduc P, Borduas F, Luconi F, Boucher A, Witteman HO, Jacques A. The majority of accredited continuing professional development activities do not target clinical behavior change. Acad Med. 2015 Feb;90(2):197-202. doi: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000000543.
- Légaré F, Freitas A, Turcotte S, Borduas F, Jacques A, Luconi F, Godin G, Boucher A, Sargeant J, Labrecque M. Responsiveness of a simple tool for assessing change in behavioral intention after continuing professional development activities. PLoS One. 2017 May 1;12(5):e0176678. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0176678.
Other publications about the CPD
- Ayivi-Vinz G, Bakwa Kanyinga F, Bergeron L, Décary S, Adisso É, Zomahoun H, Daniel S, Tremblay M, Plourde K, Guay-Bélanger S, Légaré F. Use of the CPD-REACTION Questionnaire to Evaluate Continuing Professional Development Activities for Health Professionals: Systematic Review. JMIR Med Educ. 2022;8(2):e36948. DOI: 10.2196/36948.
- Ayivi-Vinz G, Tremblay M, Gadio S, Dofara SG, Daniel SJ, Talbot D, Légaré F. Impact of Educational Activity Formats, Online or In-Person, on the Intention of Medical Specialists to Adopt a Clinical Behaviour: A Comparative Study. J CME. 2024 Jun 12;13(1):2363550.
- Bergeron L, Décary S, Djade CD, Daniel SJ, Tremblay M, Rivest LP, Légaré F. Factors Associated With Specialists' Intention to Adopt New Behaviors After Taking Web-Based Continuing Professional Development Courses: Cross-sectional Study.JMIR Med Educ. 2022 Jun 2;8(2):e34299. doi: 10.2196/34299.
- Lizotte F, Tremblay M, Biron C, Lachance É, Gadio S, de Carvalho Corôa R, Uwizeye CB, Daniel SJ, Légaré F. Effect of an Online Continuing Professional Development Course on Physicians’ Intention to Approach a Colleague in Difficulty: Mixed Methods Convergent Study. JMIR Med Educ. 2026 Feb 5;12:e80199.
- Gomes Souza L, Archambault PM, Asmaou Bouba D, Dofara SG, Guay-Bélanger S, Cortez Ghio S, Gadio S, Izumi SS, Michaels L, Paquette JS, Totten AM, Légaré F; Meta-LARC ACP Cluster Randomized Trial Team. Impact of a Team-Based Versus Individual Clinician-Focused Training Approach on Primary Healthcare Professionals' Intention to Have Serious Illness Conversations with Patients: A Theory-Informed Process Evaluation Embedded Within a Cluster Randomized Trial.PLoS One. 2025 Mar 26;20(3):e0298994.
- Asmaou Bouba D, Gomes Souza L, Dofara SG, Guay-Bélanger S, Gadio S, Mochcovitch D, Paquette JS, Izumi SS, Archambault P, Totten AM, Rivest LP, Légaré F. Long-Term Effects of Individual-Focused and Team-Based Training on Health Professionals' Intention to Have Serious Illness Conversations: A Cluster Randomized Trial. J CME. 2024 Nov 3;13(1):2420475. doi: 10.1080/28338073.2024.2420475.
- Taqif H, Adisso L, Gomes Souza L, Dofara SG, Ghio SC, Rivest LP, Légaré F. Changes in Intention to Use an Interprofessional Approach to Decision-Making Following Training: A Cluster Before-and-After Study. BMC Health Serv Res. 2024 Apr 8;24(1):437. doi: 10.1186/s12913-024-10899-z.
- Bakwa Kanyinga F, Gogovor A, Dofara SG, Gadio S, Tremblay M, Daniel SJ, Rivest LP, Légaré F. Evaluating the Impact of Continuing Professional Development Courses on Physician Behavioral Intention: A Pre-Post Study with Follow-Up at Six Months. BMC Med Educ. 2023 Sep 3;23(1):629.