Impacts of bed bug (Cimex lectularius L.) training for pest management professionals in New Orleans, LA

A bed bug (Cimex lectularius L.) education workshop was offered to members of the Greater New Orleans Pest Control Association.  Before the workshop, an initial survey was conducted of the 55 workshop attendees in order to assess their bed bug knowledge.  During the day-long workshop, attendees listened to lectures about basic bed bug biology and behavior, identification, and treatment and prevention methods.  After the workshop, a second survey was conducted of 49 attendees (89.9% of those who attended the workshop).  In the post-workshop survey, workshop attendees were asked to answer the same questions from the initial survey and to describe the intended purpose of the non-chemical management methods presented in the seminar.  Answers from the initial survey were compared to answers from the post-workshop survey in order to quantify the change in the bed bug knowledge base of the pest control operators.  The design of the survey program was based on the value-added model of educational performance, which is intended to quantify the difference between a person’s knowledge prior to attending an educational program and their knowledge immediately after the program (Saunders 1999).