ABSTRACT
Introduction: The Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme is one of the flagship programs, and under this, various activities like non-formal education on one hand and breaking the vicious cycle of malnutrition, morbidity, and mortality on the other hand are carried out by anganwadi worker (AWW). The aim of this study is to assess the AWWs performance and beneficiary participation in respect to the ICDS scheme. Methodology: This is a community-based, cross-sectional study done in two stages using a simple random sampling technique. Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) area is divided into 10 parts called ghatak, and out of these 10 ghataks, 6 were chosen in the first stage, and in the second stage, 12 anganwadi centers were selected from these 6 selected ghataks using simple random sampling. Result: In this study, 58.3% of anganwadi workers were graduates. While talking about work related to "Home Visit" and "Immunization Sessions," there was no statistically significant difference between owned and rented anganwadi center noted. While in "Nutrition & health education"-related work, there was a statistically significant difference between owned and rented anganwadi centers observed. Accuracy of weighing, plotting, and interpretation skill was more than 90% found in both the rented and owned anganwadi center. An almost similar level of nutritional status was observed in both owned and rented centers. Conclusion: In terms of performance and participation, there was not much difference between corporation own and rented anganwadi centers, although there were shared concerns related to frequent changes of place of rented anganwadi centers affecting the participation of beneficiaries.
ABSTRACT
Background: Blueprint provides a base for assessment by assigning proportionate weightage to various content areas and helps the paper setter to construct a uniform and valid assessment. This study aimed to design and validate a blueprint for theory in Community Medicine as per the new curriculum for Medical Undergraduates in India. Methods: Blueprint in community medicine was designed by assigning impact score (I) and frequency score (F) for the competencies. Blueprint was validated using the Content Validity Index (CVI), and inter-rater agreement for subject experts using Fleiss' kappa statistics was calculated. Feedback from faculty and students was obtained afterward to assess the postimplementation response. Results: Blueprint was designed by an expert group where impact score and frequency score were assigned to 146 competencies in the theory of Community Medicine. In Delphi survey I, 63.2% of subject experts responded, while in Delphi survey II, a response rate of 58.3% was achieved. Value of the Fleiss' Kappa test for an inter-rater agreement was 0.68, i.e. "substantial agreement," while CVI among the raters came out to be 0.86, i.e. overall valid assessment. Feedback of faculty (n = 11) suggested that the blueprint was helpful and standardized the paper setting, whereas feedback from students (n = 138) depicted that it helped in preparing for exams, and they would recommend it to other students. Conclusion: Validated blueprint by consensus of subject experts has impact score and frequency score along with topic-wise distribution of marks for the convenience of faculty and its utility is well proven among learners too.
