A Systems Approach to Training for Increasing Preparedness for Pregnancy Associated Infectious Morbidity of Mother and New-born in a Tribal District of Central Province of India

Background: Despite significant reduction in neonatal and maternal mortality in the last two decades, a pressing strategy is needed to meaningfully reduce preventable maternal and neonatal deaths which is crucial for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

Aim of the Study: A project was therefore undertaken to design a need based comprehensive training beyond the limits of individual disease specific guideline for Health Care Workers in a tribal district of central India and measure its impact on awareness.

Material and Method: A systems approach by 5 step ADDIE Model was followed to develop a training program which could address critical constituents of knowledge, skills and affective domain felt necessary for prevention and treatment of sepsis in Pregnant women and Neonates. The difference in Knowledge Scores between the pre-exposure and post-exposure responses was quantified to reflect effectiveness of the learning modules in increasing knowledge. For Program Evaluation a structured feedback was obtained regaining the participant’s perception of the effective of the program and also suggestions for improvement.

Results: There were sixty-nine participants who took part in 5 different session with an average of fourteen participants per session. There was of significant difference between pre-test and post test scores among all types of the participants. The Mean Pre-test Score was found to be 9.468 +/- 2.865 while the Mean Post Test Score was found to be 14.340+/- 2.1394 with statistically significant difference (t=-10.961, df=46, p<0.001) indicating that the imparted education had significant effect on the knowledge of the participants. The participants had a highly positive review of the session, with most participants giving a rating of more than 4 out of 5 on the Likert scale for all of the questions of the feedback

Conclusion: The systems-based approach highlights a framework for cross-sector collaboration with a community partnership, the skeleton of which can be adapted for various other training programs in healthcare.