Knowledge and skills of accredited social health activists in home based new-born care in a rural community of Northern India: an evaluative survey

Authors

  • Mangi Lal Choudhary College of Nursing, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
  • Poonam Joshi College of Nursing, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
  • Levis Murry College of Nursing, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
  • Sumit Malhotra Centre For Community Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
  • Jeeva Shankar Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20205718

Keywords:

ASHA, Competencies, HBNC, Rural community

Abstract

Background: Home based new-born care (HBNC) is a strategy implemented by the Government of India to overcome the problem of new-born deaths and reach the unreached new-borns in the community. Aim was to assess the knowledge and skills of ASHA workers and factors influencing the skills.

Methods: In an observational study, a total of 48 accredited social health activists (ASHA) working under a primary health centre (PHC) were enrolled using a total enumeration sampling technique. A self-developed, pre-tested and validated tool based on home based new-born care was used for data collection.

Results: Mean knowledge and skill scores of ASHA workers were 16.4±4.2 and 27.7±4.3 respectively. Nearly half of the ASHA workers had average knowledge, while two-thirds had good skills towards HBNC. Most of ASHA workers had shown good skills in measuring the temperature of new-borns, handwashing and count the respiration correctly, while less than 40% of ASHA workers performed weight recording correctly. Knowledge and overall skill scores of ASHA workers were positively correlated (r=0.58, p<0.001). Statistically significant associations  were observed  between the overall skills scores of ASHA workers and  educational status, working experience and the last training attended on HBNC (p=0.001).

Conclusions: Most of the ASHA workers had exhibited good skills, but were lacking scientific knowledge related to HBNC. There is need for having periodic re-orientation training for facilitating application of scientific knowledge to HBNC.

Author Biographies

Mangi Lal Choudhary, College of Nursing, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India

M.Sc. Nursing student, College of Nursing

 

Poonam Joshi, College of Nursing, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India

Associate Professor, College of Nursing

Levis Murry, College of Nursing, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India

Associate Professor, College of Nursing

Sumit Malhotra, Centre For Community Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India

Additional Professor, Centre For Community Medicine

Jeeva Shankar, Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India

Associate Professor, Division of Neonatology

References

Levels and Trends in Child Mortality. Report 2019. UNICEF. Available from: https://www.unicef.org/media/60561/file/UN-IGME-child-mortality-report-2019.pdf. Accessed on 26 August 2020.

Sankar MJ, Neogi SB, Sharma J, Chauhan M, Srivastava R, Prabhakar PK, et al. State of newborn health in India. J Perinatol. 2016;36(3):S3-8.

SRS Bulletin Sample Registration System. Office of the Registrar General, India. Available from: http://censusindia.gov.in/vital_statistics/SRS_Bulletins/SRS_Bulletin-Rate-2017-_May_2019.pdf. Accessed on 26 August 2020.

WHO. Neonatal mortality. World Health Organization; Available from: http://www.who.int/gho/child_health/mortality/neonatal_text/en/. Accessed on 5 May 2020.

WHO. Child mortality. World Health Organization; Available from: http://www.who.int/gho/ child_health/mortality/neonatal_infant_text/en/. Accessed on 5 May 2020.

Update on ASHA Programme. July-2017. Available from: http://nhsrcindia.org/sites/default/files/ Update%20On%20ASHA%20Programme%20July-2017.pdf. Accessed on 26 August 2020.

Das MK, Chaudhary C, Mohapatra SC, Srivastava VK, Khalique N, Kaushal SK, et al. Improvements in essential newborn care and newborn resuscitation services following a capacity building and quality improvement program in three districts of Uttar Pradesh, India. Indian J Community Med. 2018;43(2):90.

Rajawat and Talwar - Assessment of home based newborn care (HBNC) progr.pdf [Internet]. [cited 2018 Nov 12]. Available from: http://www.gjmedph.com/uploads/O1-Vo6No6.pdf. Accessed on 26 August 2020.

Pandit SB, Boricha BG, Mhaske A. To assess the knowledge and practices regarding home based newborn care among accredited social health activist (ASHA) in Rural Area. Int J Health Sci Res. 2016;6(12):205-9.

Bansal SC, Nimbalkar SM, Shah NA, Shrivastav RS, Phatak AG. Evaluation of knowledge and skills of home based newborn care among accredited social health activists (ASHA). Indian Pediatr. 2016;53(8):689-91.

Grover et al. - Assessment of Home Based Newborn Care provided by .pdf [Internet]. Available from: https://www.ijrdpl.com/uploads/41/4132_pdf.pdf. Accessed on 26 August 2020.

62nd AIIMS Annual Report. 2017-2018. Available from: https://www.aiims.edu/images/pdf/ annual_reports/AIIMS_Eng(2018)_Web%20Final.pdf. Accessed on 5 January 2020.

Stalin P, Krishnan A, Rai SK, Agarwal RK. ASHA’s involvement in newborn care: a feasibility study. Indian Pediatr. 2011;48(11):897-9.

Sinha LN, Kaur P, Gupta R, Dalpath S, Goyal V, Murhekar M. Newborn care practices and home-based postnatal newborn care programme- Mewat, Haryana, India, 2013. Western Pac Surveill Response J. 2014;5(3):22-9.

Downloads

Published

2020-12-25

How to Cite

Choudhary, M. L., Joshi, P., Murry, L., Malhotra, S., & Shankar, J. (2020). Knowledge and skills of accredited social health activists in home based new-born care in a rural community of Northern India: an evaluative survey. International Journal Of Community Medicine And Public Health, 8(1), 334–338. https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20205718

Issue

Section

Original Research Articles