The impact of the refresher training and the defaulter tracing on community health workers’ performance

ISRCTN	ISRCTN18201040
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN18201040
Secondary identifying numbers	N/A

Submission date: 16/03/2015
Registration date: 02/04/2015
Last edited: 02/04/2015

Recruitment status: No longer recruiting
Overall study status: Completed
Condition category: Other

Prospectively registered

Protocol

Statistical analysis plan

Results

Individual participant data

Record updated in last year

Plain English summary of protocol

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

Contact information

Dr Yoshito Kawakatsu
Public

Provincial Headquaters 4th floor
Kisumu
401-40100
Kenya

ORCID ID	0000-0003-1853-533X

Study information

Study design	A cluster randomized controlled trial
Primary study design	Interventional
Secondary study design	Cluster randomised trial
Study setting(s)	Community
Study type	Other
Scientific title	The impact of the continuous refresher training and the defaulter tracing activity on community health workers’ performance: a cluster randomized control trial
Study objectives	A Intensive refresher training and strengthening the defaulter tracing are effective interventions to improve community health workers' performance.
Ethics approval(s)	GLUK Ethical Review Committee (GERC) , Great Lake University of Kisumu (GLUK), Kenya, ref: No. GERC/036/2011
Health condition(s) or problem(s) studied	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
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 study start date	01/07/2011
Completion date	31/12/2012

Eligibility

Participant type(s)	Health professional
Age group	All
Sex	Both
Target number of participants	Around 1000 CHWs working in the areas
Key inclusion criteria	All community health workers (CHWs) actively working in the research areas
Key exclusion criteria	CHWs who have not been participated in any community health activity within the last three months.
Date of first enrolment	18/07/2011
Date of final enrolment	21/07/2011

Locations

Countries of recruitment

Kenya

Study participating centre

Head Quarter of Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation, Kisumu

Kisumu West, Siaya, Ugenya, and Gem

Sponsor information

SEMAH project supported by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Kenya Office
Government

The Rahimtulla Tower
10th floor
Upper Hill Rd.
Nairobi
50572-00200
Kenya

"ROR"	https://ror.org/022es3t03

Funders

Funder type

Not defined

Japan International Cooperation Agency
Government organisation / Local government

Alternative name(s): Agence Japonaise de Coopération Internationale, Agencia de Cooperación Internacional del Japón, JICA
Location: Japan

Results and Publications

Intention to publish date
Individual participant data (IPD) Intention to share	Yes
IPD sharing plan summary	Available on request
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.
IPD sharing plan