Effect of Self Learning Material on Expressed Practices among Pre-service Auxiliary Nurse and Midwives regarding Behaviour Change Communication for Reproductive and Child Health Care

Abstract

Introduction: Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCH+A) approach address delay in accessing and utilizing health care services as the major causes of mortality among women and children. Behavior change communication (BCC) strategy has the potential to significantly improve these practices and consequently accelerate reproductive, maternal and newborn health and child survival. Self-learning material on BCC for Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) Care provided with relevant information for selected RCH issues which ANMs may use time to time for creating awareness to improve health seeking behavior of community for RCH care. Objective: (1) To evaluate the expressed practices among pre-service Auxiliary Nurse and Midwives (ANM) regarding BCC for RCH care. (2) To examine the effect of Self learning material (SLM) on expressed practices of pre-service ANM regarding BCC for RCH care. Method: One group pretest post-test design was used to assess the retention of expressed practices among study sample after reading the SLM on BCC for RCH Care up to three months. Pre-test was done to evaluate the expressed practices of 98 Pre-service ANMs selected using total enumeration technique from randomly selected training institutes of Delhi. The questionnaire and intervention were developed by the researcher and got validated by 21 experts. Pretest was done with help of structured questionnaire and the intervention as SLM was disseminated to study samples. After giving the SLM to pre-service ANMs, two post tests were conducted for the assessment of expressed Practices on BCC for RCH care after 30 days and again after 90 days which helped the researcher to examine the change in expressed Practices after reading the SLM continue, diminished or increase up to three months. Result: On comparison of mean scores of pre-test and post-tests by one-way ANOVA it was interpreted that pre-test expressed practice score of 29.69 had increased significantly to 82.07 and 90.87 in posttest I and II respectively (p<.001). Results revealed that total expressed practice scores and mean expressed practice scores of pre-service ANMs had increased in posttest-I and II after reading the SLM. Conclusion: Self-learning material regarding BCC for Reproductive and Child Health Care was an effective teaching tool for pre-service ANMs.