group approach for a health education program on diarrhea comparison of community health workers versus students delivering the program

ABSTRACT

Although mortality from diarrhoeal diseases has shown some decline, they are still a major cause of malnutrition and inadequate health in children. These sequelae are the results of improper knowledge and false beliefs among mothers. Community health workers might have a great impact in increasing the awareness of mothers through health education. The aim of this work is to test the hypothesis that community health workers are more effective than medical students in promoting the knowledge of mothers about proper practices during diarrhoea. Two hamlets were randomly chosen from two villages of the same district. They were comparable in all socio-demographic characteristics. Fifty mothers have been included from each hamlet. A pilot study was done with the aim of tailoring the health education program to the studied communities. The program was planned to be delivered in a group approach, ensuring interaction between donors and recipients. Students and community health workers were trained on delivering the program exactly in the same manner. A pie-post questionnaire was designed to measure the change of knowledge of the mothers before and after the program. Results have shown statistically significant differences in the pre-post test results in both groups. However, the magnitude of this change turned to be higher in the community health workers group. The conclusion is that group approach was successful in raising the awareness of mothers about proper management of diarrhoea, specially when delivered by community health workers