An illustrated booklet for reinforcing community health worker knowledge of tuberculosis and facilitating patient counselling

African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine

 
 
Field Value
 
Title An illustrated booklet for reinforcing community health worker knowledge of tuberculosis and facilitating patient counselling
 
Creator Okeyo, Ida L.A. Dowse, Ros
 
Subject Primary health care; community health workers; information needs Information Booklet; Patient Communication; Patient Education; Pictograms; South Africa.
Description Background: Community health workers (CHWs) have facilitated the move to decentralise tuberculosis (TB) management, but lack access to information appropriate both for personal use and in patient interaction and education.Aim: To explore the impact of a pictorial-based TB booklet on reinforcing CHW knowledge and facilitating patient counselling.Setting: This study was conducted in local primary health care clinics and the Hospice in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape Province in South Africa.Methods: Quantitative and qualitative methods were used. A simple, 17-page, A5 booklet containing pictograms and simple text was designed in collaboration with CHWs who advised on preferred content. Its influence on knowledge was assessed in 31 CHWs using a 17-item questionnaire in a before-and-after study. The experiences of CHWs using the booklet were qualitatively explored using focus group discussions (FGD) and semi-structured interviews.Results: Overall knowledge increased significantly from 70.6% to 85.3% (p 0.001) with 8 of 17 questions significantly better answered at follow-up. These addressed meaning of side effects and side effect advice for patients, cause and prevention of TB, action if a dose is forgotten, timing of dose in relation to food intake and the possibility that not all patients are cured.Community health workers reported using the booklet during patient interactions, commenting that it enhanced their confidence in their own TB-related knowledge, improved recall of information and reduced uncertainty. They appreciated the simplicity of the text and its userfriendliness because of the inclusion of pictograms. The booklet was perceived to be valuable as a tool for both patient education as well as improved communication with patients.Conclusion: A simple, user-friendly TB booklet containing pictograms improved CHWknowledge and acted as a valuable tool in patient communication and education.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor Rhodes University
Date 2018-05-24
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — mixed methods study
Format text/html application/epub+zip application/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/phcfm.v10i1.1687
 
Source African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine; Vol 10, No 1 (2018); 7 pages 2071-2936 2071-2928
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/1687/2561 https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/1687/2560 https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/1687/2562 https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/1687/2559
 
Coverage South Africa; Eastern Cape; Grahamstown 2014-2015 Community Health Workers
Rights Copyright (c) 2018 Ida L.A. Okeyo, Ros Dowse https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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