BackgroundThe potential role of Community Health Workers (CHWs) in improving maternal and child health outcomes, particularly in low and middle-income countries and in disadvantaged communities, is receiving increased attention. Adequate and focused training is among the key requisites for enhancing CHWs performances and research is necessary to identify effective training methods.MethodsA randomized controlled study was designed to assess the effectiveness of a training course in improving knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) of CHWs regarding maternal and infant health. Seventy-eight CHWs belonging to Family Health Units in the city of Recife, Brazil were randomly allocated to intervention and control groups. The intervention group took part in a four-day interactive training course based on an action-oriented guide to perform home visits to pregnant women and their infants throughout pregnancy and infancy until 9 months of age. KAP in intervention group after training and after 1 year were compared to control group and to baseline.ResultsFifty-nine CHWs completed all KAP assessments (31 in intervention and 28 in control group). Baseline characteristics were similar in both groups. At 1 year from training, the intervention group had higher overall KAP score (120.65 vs. 108.19, p < 0.001) as well as knowledge (47.45 vs. 40.54, p < 0.001), practice (53.45 vs. 49.11, p < 0.001) and attitudes scores (19.74 vs. 18.81, p = 0.047) than the control group. Moreover, at 1 year from training, the intervention group maintained significant improvements in overall KAP score (120.65 vs. 106.55, p < 0.001) as well as in knowledge (45.45 vs. 42.13, p < 0.001), and practice (53.45 vs. 45.29, p < 0.001) scores with respect to baseline. In the control group, overall KAP (106.59 vs. 108.19, p = 0.345) as well as separate knowledge, attitudes and practices scores remained unchanged.ConclusionsA four-day interactive training course on action-oriented home visits to pregnant women and infants produced a sustained improvement of CHWs’ KAP and may represent a model to ensure retention of acquired competences.Trial registrationRBR-9gchqr. Date registered: July 21, 2018 (Retrospectively registered).Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12909-018-1332-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Background: Domestic violence against women (DVAW) is widely recognized as a public health problem. In India, health sector response to DVAW is suboptimal. Present study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude, practice and learning needs of nursing personnel regarding women’s health issues related to domestic violence.Methods: This facility based cross sectional study was carried out among 100 nursing personnel from Public sector in Delhi, selected using stratified random sampling. Data were collected using a validated, pretested, structured self reported questionnaire with a few open ended questions. It included knowledge, attitude, practice and learning needs of nursing personnel relevant to DV. Descriptive statistics were used for data analysis using Stata 11.0 (College Station, Texas, USA).Results: Two third of nursing personnel (67%) had moderate knowledge scores and 27% had poor knowledge scores; 19% had favourable attitude scores towards DV; 57% had good practice scores; 44% reported moderate to high need for learning and majority lacked preparedness to manage DV victims. The knowledge was significantly associated with younger age, single, graduate/ Post graduates, B.Sc. Nursing degree holders, working in tertiary hospital, as staff nurse/public health nurse/sister in charge and those with lesser experience, (p<0.05). The attitude was significantly associated with younger age, single, graduate/post graduates, and those with lesser experience, (p<0.05).Conclusions: Nursing personnel had substantial gap in their knowledge, attitude and practice related to DV and a large unmet learning need highlighting the need for relevant pre service and continuing education.
Objetivo: Avaliar o efeito de um programa de Visitas Domiciliares Inovadoras (VDI), que é baseado em um guia de orientação, nos conhecimentos e práticas de saúde das mães em relação aos cuidados da criança e durante os períodos pré/pós-natal, e indicadores de saúde materno-infantil (ISMI). Métodos: Estudo transversal e analítico que comparou 195 gestantes e mães que receberam VDI (grupo 1) com o grupo 2, de visitas domiciliares convencionais (VDC), realizado em Unidades de Saúde da Família (USF) de Recife, Pernambuco, entre 2015 a 2016. Dividiram-se 16 equipes de saúde da família em dois grupos: oito equipes receberam treinamento para VDI e oito não receberam. Houve dez VDI com a utilização do guia, durante a gestação e durante os nove meses da criança. As VDC ocorreram uma vez/mês, durante o mesmo período das VDI, mas sem o guia. Após nove meses, as participantes foram entrevistadas através de questionário com conteúdos relacionados à saúde materno-infantil. Resultados: 93 gestantes (49 do grupo 1 e 44 do 2) e 102 mães de crianças (57 do grupo 1 e 45 do 2) responderam aos questionários. Os resultados mostraram melhores indicadores de pré-natal (p=0,005), melhor conhecimento sobre métodos contraceptivos (p
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