Effectiveness of a short-structured training programme on knowledge of healthcare providers and programme managers involved in maternal and child health programmes in Odisha, India: a quality improvement study

Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of training programme on knowledge related to new interventions proposed under India Newborn Action Plan (INAP) and Integrated Action Plan against Pneumonia and Diarrhoea (IAPPD). Design Quality improvement study with pre-evaluation and post evaluation. Setting The study was conducted in 17 districts of Odisha, India. Participants and interventions The participants were healthcare providers and programme managers involved in maternal and child health programmes. Intervention was a short-structured (8 hours) training delivered to 127 batches with expected participation of 30 trainees in each batch. Training was divided into four modules covering new interventions related to INAP and IAPPD like causes of neonatal death, kangaroo mother care (KMC), feeding of low birthweight (LBW) infants, use of injection gentamicin, identification of possible serious bacterial infection (PSBI), identification and management of pneumonia and diarrhoea and key interventions for maternal health. Various modalities of teaching-learning method were used. Outcome measures Pretraining and post-training knowledge assessment was done with a pretested tool consisting of 15 items. Each item carried equal weightage in calculation of knowledge score thus maximum possible knowledge score was 15. Feedback assessment was also done after the training. Results The mean (SD) knowledge score significantly improved to 10.24 (2.24) after training as compared with 4.73 (1.94) before training, p<0.001 (n=982). There was significant improvement in knowledge for majority of the components namely causes of neonatal death (61.9% vs 28.1%), KMC (68.0% vs 54.6%), feeding of LBW infants (77.7% vs 6.9%), use of injection gentamicin (69.7% vs 11.2%), identification of PSBI (69.5% vs 59.5%). The improvement in knowledge score was more when healthcare providers and programme managers had provided a favourable response on feedback. Conclusion Systematic pretest and post-test assessment coupled with feedback assessment can ensure the effectiveness of training programmes offered in programmatic settings.