Integrated care by community health workers in Malawi: Rehabilitation and blood pressure monitoring
Background: Community health workers (CHWs) are essential providers of integrated care for people in low-resourced settings with a high burden from noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). Aims: The purpose of this study was to evaluate a CHW training program in rural Malawi integrating blood pressure...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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AIMS Press
2021-02-01
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| Series: | AIMS Public Health |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.aimspress.com/article/doi/10.3934/publichealth.2021009?viewType=HTML |
| _version_ | 1819053385707421696 |
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| author | Athenie Galvez Jordan Waite Kyle Jureidini Kathryn C Nesbit |
| author_facet | Athenie Galvez Jordan Waite Kyle Jureidini Kathryn C Nesbit |
| author_sort | Athenie Galvez |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background:
Community health workers (CHWs) are essential providers of integrated care for people in low-resourced settings with a high burden from noncommunicable diseases (NCDs).
Aims:
The purpose of this study was to evaluate a CHW training program in rural Malawi integrating blood pressure (BP) monitoring into rehabilitation care.
Methods:
This was a retrospective cross-sectional study. The participants were a convenience sample of home-based palliative care CHWs at the local hospital (n = 59). Data collected included: a written pre- and post-knowledge test, skills competency checklist and a post-training program survey. Descriptive frequencies and paired t-tests (a = 0.05) were used for quantitative analyses. Themes in narrative responses in the post-training survey were analyzed qualitatively.
Results:
Participant knowledge regarding BP monitoring procedures improved significantly on the post-test (M = 8.24, SD = 1.654) compared to the pre-test (M = 6.59, SD = 1.683), Z (49) = −5.569, p < 0.001. The pre-and post-tests were scored 0–10 points. All participants demonstrated competency in 100% of the skills. Participants reported the lack of transportation, teamwork and resources as barriers to their work. They reported trainings and opportunities to collaborate as facilitators to their work.
Discussion:
This study demonstrated the effectiveness of a training program for CHWs which integrated BP monitoring with rehabilitation care for people with NCDs. This retention of knowledge and application to clinical practice serve as strong indicators of the feasibility and sustainability of the CHW training and care delivery program in resource-limited settings.
Conclusion:
Our findings help demonstrate that training CHWs can be an effective way to help bridge the gap in health care access for people with disabilities in resource-limited countries. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T12:34:54Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-dca12a90a9b348088d979421e2d6fec7 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2327-8994 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T12:34:54Z |
| publishDate | 2021-02-01 |
| publisher | AIMS Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | AIMS Public Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-dca12a90a9b348088d979421e2d6fec72022-12-21T19:03:56ZengAIMS PressAIMS Public Health2327-89942021-02-018111012310.3934/publichealth.2021009Integrated care by community health workers in Malawi: Rehabilitation and blood pressure monitoringAthenie Galvez0Jordan Waite1Kyle Jureidini 2Kathryn C Nesbit31. Presidio Sport & Medicine, San Francisco, CA, USA2. Orthopedic and Neurological Rehabilitation, Los Gatos, CA, USA3. Body Mechanix Physical Therapy, Simi Valley, CA, USA4. UCSF/SFSU Graduate Program in Physical Therapy, San Francisco, CA, USABackground: Community health workers (CHWs) are essential providers of integrated care for people in low-resourced settings with a high burden from noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). Aims: The purpose of this study was to evaluate a CHW training program in rural Malawi integrating blood pressure (BP) monitoring into rehabilitation care. Methods: This was a retrospective cross-sectional study. The participants were a convenience sample of home-based palliative care CHWs at the local hospital (n = 59). Data collected included: a written pre- and post-knowledge test, skills competency checklist and a post-training program survey. Descriptive frequencies and paired t-tests (a = 0.05) were used for quantitative analyses. Themes in narrative responses in the post-training survey were analyzed qualitatively. Results: Participant knowledge regarding BP monitoring procedures improved significantly on the post-test (M = 8.24, SD = 1.654) compared to the pre-test (M = 6.59, SD = 1.683), Z (49) = −5.569, p < 0.001. The pre-and post-tests were scored 0–10 points. All participants demonstrated competency in 100% of the skills. Participants reported the lack of transportation, teamwork and resources as barriers to their work. They reported trainings and opportunities to collaborate as facilitators to their work. Discussion: This study demonstrated the effectiveness of a training program for CHWs which integrated BP monitoring with rehabilitation care for people with NCDs. This retention of knowledge and application to clinical practice serve as strong indicators of the feasibility and sustainability of the CHW training and care delivery program in resource-limited settings. Conclusion: Our findings help demonstrate that training CHWs can be an effective way to help bridge the gap in health care access for people with disabilities in resource-limited countries.http://www.aimspress.com/article/doi/10.3934/publichealth.2021009?viewType=HTMLcommunity health workersintegrated carepalliative carenoncommunicable disease |
| spellingShingle | Athenie Galvez Jordan Waite Kyle Jureidini Kathryn C Nesbit Integrated care by community health workers in Malawi: Rehabilitation and blood pressure monitoring AIMS Public Health community health workers integrated care palliative care noncommunicable disease |
| title | Integrated care by community health workers in Malawi: Rehabilitation and blood pressure monitoring |
| title_full | Integrated care by community health workers in Malawi: Rehabilitation and blood pressure monitoring |
| title_fullStr | Integrated care by community health workers in Malawi: Rehabilitation and blood pressure monitoring |
| title_full_unstemmed | Integrated care by community health workers in Malawi: Rehabilitation and blood pressure monitoring |
| title_short | Integrated care by community health workers in Malawi: Rehabilitation and blood pressure monitoring |
| title_sort | integrated care by community health workers in malawi rehabilitation and blood pressure monitoring |
| topic | community health workers integrated care palliative care noncommunicable disease |
| url | http://www.aimspress.com/article/doi/10.3934/publichealth.2021009?viewType=HTML |
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