Development and Assessment of an Infection Control Workshop in Malawi

Abstract

The purpose of this research study was to develop and assess the effectiveness of an infection control program taught in Malawi, Africa. The workshops were conducted from June through July 2015. The intent was to evaluate the change of knowledge based on the information obtained through the workshop. The survey included demographic variables on gender, education level and current position. Analysis of variance was used to test for workshop bias on these variables. The workshops were held at Blessings Hospital and Chinkoti Health Clinic, both located in Lumbadzi, Malawi, Malawi College of Health Science in Lilongwe and Mponela Rural Hospital located in Mponela. All the research sites were located in the Central District of Malawi. Participants were health practitioners, community health workers, students in the Health Sciences field, and others (i.e. drivers, cleaners, and cooks). The pre-test, an Infection Control workshop, and then a post-test were administered. The workshop focused on basic infection control procedures and definitions. Participants in the infection control workshop were asked to answer a 17 item pretest survey and immediately following the workshop to complete an identical 17 item posttest. A majority (65%) of the participants in the study were female, and almost half (46%) of the participants were community health workers. The lack of bias for all three demographic variables was a significant finding. Bias indicates any factor that favors one group over another group, for each of the three variables measured in the infection control workshop; the assessment shows a lack of bias. The assessment showed that the workshop performed equally well for both male and female participants. The assessment also showed lack of bias in education levels where all levels of education showed increase in overall scores and by category where each group improved overall scores. The assessment showed overall improvement in each demographic area. Training for a healthcare worker ranged from some informal training to no training. The pre-test scores indicated that those participants with the most education and working in the most professional areas had the most knowledge; however, the analysis also showed that all participants improved their knowledge of infection control, with the least educated making significant advances in knowledge to almost equal the higher educated participants. The project resulted in a workshop that was unbiased toward gender, education level, or job category. The workshop can be used to train health care workers to use infection control practices to reduce the spread of infection.