Building Capacity to Design, Implement and Evaluate Workplace-based HIV and Tuberculosis programmes for the Healthcare Workforce: Evaluating the first phase of a South African-Canadian Collaboration

Yassi, Annalee

Monday, March 19, 2012: 16:00

Costa Maya 2 (Cancun Center)

Annalee Yassi, Global Health Research Program, University Of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

Alexandre Liautaud, School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

Lyndsay O Hara, School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

Michelle Engelbrecht, Centre for Health Systems Research and Development, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa

Asta Rau, Centre for Health Systems Research and Development, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa

Elizabeth Bryce, Microbiology and Infection Control, Vancouver Coastal Health, Vancouver, Canada

Jerry Spiegel, Global Health Research Program, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

Lucky Nophale, Provincial Occupational Health Unit, Free State Department of Health, Bloemfontein, South Africa

Kerry Uebel, HIV Centre for Excellence, Free State Department of Health, Bloemfontein, South Africa

Handouts

Yassi -certificate programme- ICOH 2012ayFinal.pdf (646.8 kB)

Introduction
Given the high incidence of HIV and tuberculosis (TB) in South Africa, together with their impact on healthcare workers, a 1-year certificate programme was developed to train occupational health (OH) and infection control (IC) practitioners in Free State, South Africa to conduct workplace-based HIV and TB prevention trials. The introductory 4–day module aimed to reinforce participants’ knowledge of HIV and TB, OH, IC and research design. This study evaluates its success.

Methods
Ethics approval was obtained from both Canadian and South African universities, and questionnaires were linked by confidential personal identifiers. Responses were measured using 61 five-point Likert type questions (self-rated knowledge, “self-rated comfort with practice” and attitudes), 8 true/false items (actual knowledge), and 6 open-ended questions (expectations and reactions). Linked pre-post module responses were compared using the Wilcoxon signed ranks, McNemar, Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests. Open-ended questions were analyzed by theme.

Results
All 32 participants completed the questionnaires. Particular weakness in knowledge on international guidelines, data analysis and research methodology, with significant differences by age and work affiliation were noted. Post-module, 15/25 self-rated knowledge and 14/16 “self-rated comfort with practice” items with increased median scores (p < 0.0001) were found. No significant changes in attitudes were noted, as no subgroup showed negative attitudes at baseline. Actual knowledge items improved from 67.5% to 85.5% correct, particularly among those who scored poorly at baseline, or in questions scoring poorly at baseline. Questions related to data analysis scored the lowest both at baseline and follow-up.

Discussion
The workshop improved knowledge about TB, international guidelines as well as comfort with research methodologies, across all sub-groups. Although the workshop met expectations, concerns remained about the ability of participants to work with quantitative data. This formative evaluation highlighted the need to strengthen data analysis capacity among healthcare trainees.

A1273 Building Capacity to Design, Implement and Evaluate Workplace-based HIV and Tuberculosis programmes for the Healthcare Workforce: Evaluating the first phase of a South African-Canadian Collaboration