Skills2Care: An innovative, cooperative learning programme for community health workers in South Africa

Background: Community health workers (CHWs) hold potential to support universal health coverage and better health for vulnerable communities. They are integral to the re-engineered Primary Health Care (PHC) strategy, introduced in South Africa in 2011. This study focussed on how to train CHWs in lar...

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Autores principales:	Therese M. Boulle, Paul Cromhout, Khuzwayo August, Dave Woods
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN FR
Publicado:	AOSIS 2021
Materias:	community health worker community health worker training community health worker programmes lay health worker maternal and child health access to health care village health worker community care worker Medicine R Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/9c6deff3ba964ea78330d271b91d4488
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:9c6deff3ba964ea78330d271b91d44882021-11-24T07:43:58ZSkills2Care: An innovative, cooperative learning programme for community health workers in South Africa2071-29282071-293610.4102/phcfm.v13i1.2922https://doaj.org/article/9c6deff3ba964ea78330d271b91d44882021-10-01T00:00:00Zhttps://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/2922https://doaj.org/toc/2071-2928https://doaj.org/toc/2071-2936Background: Community health workers (CHWs) hold potential to support universal health coverage and better health for vulnerable communities. They are integral to the re-engineered Primary Health Care (PHC) strategy, introduced in South Africa in 2011. This study focussed on how to train CHWs in large numbers, especially in resource-limited, rural settings. Skills2Care, a method of cooperative learning for CHWS, has been pioneered in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Aim: To determine whether Skills2Care could improve the cognitive knowledge of CHWs; to understand their response and attitude to the programme; to explore factors that enabled and inhibited learning and to consider its viability as a training method. Setting: Research was conducted in 2019 in the Ngqeleni subdistrict of the O.R. Tambo district, in rural Eastern Cape. Methods: A group-learning model using specifically tailored study modules in booklet format, addressing mother and baby care, was used. A facilitator promoted learning. Knowledge assessment was conducted by pre- and post-study testing using multiple choice questions. Focus group discussions and interviews explored the appropriateness and acceptability of this method, and factors enabling and inhibiting the learning. Results: This method of peer group cooperative learning can significantly increase the cognitive knowledge of CHWs. Test scores indicated a significant (13%) improvement. Focus group discussions indicated that participants valued this method as it increased knowledge and boosted their confidence. Conclusion: This innovative approach to district-based, continuing education suggests that CHWs could be trained in large numbers without the need for additional resources.Therese M. BoullePaul CromhoutKhuzwayo AugustDave WoodsAOSISarticlecommunity health workercommunity health worker trainingcommunity health worker programmeslay health workermaternal and child healthaccess to health carevillage health workercommunity care workerMedicineRPublic aspects of medicineRA1-1270ENFRAfrican Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine, Vol 13, Iss 1, Pp e1-e10 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN FR
topic	community health worker community health worker training community health worker programmes lay health worker maternal and child health access to health care village health worker community care worker Medicine R Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270
spellingShingle	community health worker community health worker training community health worker programmes lay health worker maternal and child health access to health care village health worker community care worker Medicine R Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 Therese M. Boulle Paul Cromhout Khuzwayo August Dave Woods Skills2Care: An innovative, cooperative learning programme for community health workers in South Africa
description	Background: Community health workers (CHWs) hold potential to support universal health coverage and better health for vulnerable communities. They are integral to the re-engineered Primary Health Care (PHC) strategy, introduced in South Africa in 2011. This study focussed on how to train CHWs in large numbers, especially in resource-limited, rural settings. Skills2Care, a method of cooperative learning for CHWS, has been pioneered in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Aim: To determine whether Skills2Care could improve the cognitive knowledge of CHWs; to understand their response and attitude to the programme; to explore factors that enabled and inhibited learning and to consider its viability as a training method. Setting: Research was conducted in 2019 in the Ngqeleni subdistrict of the O.R. Tambo district, in rural Eastern Cape. Methods: A group-learning model using specifically tailored study modules in booklet format, addressing mother and baby care, was used. A facilitator promoted learning. Knowledge assessment was conducted by pre- and post-study testing using multiple choice questions. Focus group discussions and interviews explored the appropriateness and acceptability of this method, and factors enabling and inhibiting the learning. Results: This method of peer group cooperative learning can significantly increase the cognitive knowledge of CHWs. Test scores indicated a significant (13%) improvement. Focus group discussions indicated that participants valued this method as it increased knowledge and boosted their confidence. Conclusion: This innovative approach to district-based, continuing education suggests that CHWs could be trained in large numbers without the need for additional resources.
format	article
author	Therese M. Boulle Paul Cromhout Khuzwayo August Dave Woods
author_facet	Therese M. Boulle Paul Cromhout Khuzwayo August Dave Woods
author_sort	Therese M. Boulle
title	Skills2Care: An innovative, cooperative learning programme for community health workers in South Africa
title_short	Skills2Care: An innovative, cooperative learning programme for community health workers in South Africa
title_full	Skills2Care: An innovative, cooperative learning programme for community health workers in South Africa
title_fullStr	Skills2Care: An innovative, cooperative learning programme for community health workers in South Africa
title_full_unstemmed	Skills2Care: An innovative, cooperative learning programme for community health workers in South Africa
title_sort	skills2care: an innovative, cooperative learning programme for community health workers in south africa
publisher	AOSIS
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/9c6deff3ba964ea78330d271b91d4488
work_keys_str_mv	AT theresemboulle skills2careaninnovativecooperativelearningprogrammeforcommunityhealthworkersinsouthafrica AT paulcromhout skills2careaninnovativecooperativelearningprogrammeforcommunityhealthworkersinsouthafrica AT khuzwayoaugust skills2careaninnovativecooperativelearningprogrammeforcommunityhealthworkersinsouthafrica AT davewoods skills2careaninnovativecooperativelearningprogrammeforcommunityhealthworkersinsouthafrica
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Skills2Care: An innovative, cooperative learning programme for community health workers in South Africa

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