Plain English Summary
Background and study aims
The importance of community health workers (CHWs) is increasing worldwide, especially in low income countries. And their performance is one of the key to make the program a success. In Kenya, the community health strategy was launched since 2006. Although the standard training was implemented by the government, performance was varied. The purpose of this study is to measure the effectiveness of two unique activities, a continuous refresher training and a community referral and defaulter tracing activity, in order to improve the performance of community health workers.
Who can participate?
Adults who have actively worked as community health workers
What does the study involve?
Two cross-sectional surveys are conducted before and after the interventions in 64 locations. The 64 areas are randomly allocated into the three groups; intervention one, intervention two and control group. The intervention one group receives only the continuous refresher training. The intervention two group receives the training and referral and defaulter tracing activity. The control group receive no training or activity. The training is implemented once a month from January to July in 2012.
What are the possible benefits and risks of participating?
As well as the additional learning opportunity, transportation cost and lunch will be provided during the training. To standardize the health knowledge among CHWs in both the intervention groups and the control group, we will implement the similar training to the control group after the study is complete.
Where is the study run from?
Kisumu West District, Siaya District, Ugenya District and Gem District, Nyanza province (Kenya)
When is the study starting and how long is it expected to run for?
July 2011 to October 2012
Who is funding the study?
Japan International Cooperation Agency
Who is the main contact?
Yoshito Kawakatsu
yoshito.kawakatsu@gmail.com
Trial website
Contact information
Type
Public
Primary contact
Dr Yoshito Kawakatsu
ORCID ID
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1853-533X
Contact details
Provincial Headquaters 4th floor
Kisumu
401-40100
Kenya
Additional identifiers
EudraCT number
ClinicalTrials.gov number
Protocol/serial number
N/A
Study information
Scientific title
The impact of the continuous refresher training and the defaulter tracing activity on community health workers’ performance: a cluster randomized control trial
Acronym
Study hypothesis
A Intensive refresher training and strengthening the defaulter tracing are effective interventions to improve community health workers' performance.
Ethics approval
GLUK Ethical Review Committee (GERC) , Great Lake University of Kisumu (GLUK), Kenya, ref: No. GERC/036/2011
Study design
A cluster randomized controlled trial
Primary study design
Interventional
Secondary study design
Cluster randomised trial
Trial setting
Community
Trial type
Other
Patient information sheet
Condition
Healthy adults working as community health workers
Intervention
There are two interventions:
1. Refresher training to community health workers
2. Strengthening of the referral and defaulter tracing activity
Intervention type
Behavioural
Phase
Drug names
Primary outcome measure
Community health workers' performance in terms of household coverage, health knowledge, and customer satisfaction.
Secondary outcome measures
Pervasive effects to community members such as health knowledge and health seeking behavior.
Overall trial start date
01/07/2011
Overall trial end date
31/12/2012
Reason abandoned (if study stopped)
Eligibility
Participant inclusion criteria
All community health workers (CHWs) actively working in the research areas
Participant type
Health professional
Age group
All
Gender
Both
Target number of participants
Around 1000 CHWs working in the areas
Participant exclusion criteria
CHWs who have not been participated in any community health activity within the last three months.
Recruitment start date
18/07/2011
Recruitment end date
21/07/2011
Locations
Countries of recruitment
Kenya
Trial participating centre
Head Quarter of Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation, Kisumu
Kisumu West, Siaya, Ugenya, and Gem
Funders
Funder type
Not defined
Funder name
Japan International Cooperation Agency
Alternative name(s)
Agence Japonaise de Coopération Internationale, Agencia de Cooperación Internacional del Japón, JICA
Funding Body Type
government organisation
Funding Body Subtype
government non-federal
Location
Japan
Results and Publications
Publication and dissemination plan
I have a plan to publish this research paper in a international journal. In addition, I may make a presentation in a international conference.
Intention to publish date
Participant level data
Available on request
Basic results (scientific)
Publication list