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The role of an mH ealth intervention in improving knowledge and skills of accredited social health activists in tribal areas of Gujarat, India: a nested study within an implementation research trial
Author(s) -
Shah Shobha,
Shinde Aakash,
Anand Ankit,
Modi Dhiren,
Desai Gayatri,
Bhatt Hardik,
Gopalan Ravi,
Dholakia Nishith,
Vaghela Prakash,
Desai Shrey,
Shah Pankaj
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
acta paediatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/apa.14322
Subject(s) - medicine , accreditation , intervention (counseling) , family medicine , health education , health care , randomized controlled trial , nursing , gerontology , physical therapy , public health , medical education , economics , economic growth
Aim To evaluate the effectiveness of an mH ealth intervention in improving knowledge and skills of accredited social health activists in improving maternal, newborn and child health care in India. Methods This was a nested cross‐sectional study within a cluster randomised controlled trial. The intervention was a mobile phone application which has inbuilt health education videos, algorithms to diagnose complications and training tools to educate accredited social health activists. A total of 124 were randomly selected from the control (n = 61) and intervention (n = 63) arms of the larger study after six months of training in Bharuch and Narmada districts of Gujarat. Results The knowledge of accredited social health activists regarding pregnancy ( OR : 2.51, CI : 1.12–5.64) and newborn complications ( OR : 2.57, CI : 1.12–5.92) was significantly higher in the intervention arm compared to the control arm. The knowledge of complications during delivery ( OR : 1.36, CI : 0.62–2.98) and the postpartum ( OR : 1.06, CI : 0.48–2.33) period was similar in both groups. The activists from the intervention arm demonstrated better skills for measuring temperature ( OR : 4.25, CI : 1.66–10.89) of newborns compared to the control group. Conclusion The results suggest potential benefits of this mH ealth intervention for improving knowledge and skills of accredited social health activists.