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Community health worker knowledge, attitudes and practices towards COVID-19: Learnings from an online cross-sectional survey using a digital health platform, UpSCALE, in Mozambique

Healthcare workers (HCWs) are at the frontline of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic response, yet there is a paucity of literature on their knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) in relation to the pandemic. Community Health Workers (CHWs) in Mozambique are known locally as agentes...

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Autores principales: Feldman, Mitra, Lacey Krylova, Vera, Farrow, Poppy, Donovan, Laura, Zandamela, Edson, Rebelo, Joaquim, Rodrigues, Maria, Bulo, Antonio, Ferraz, Carlos, Rodrigues, Humberto, Roca-Feltrer, Arantxa, Baker, Kevin
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7875419/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33566850
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0244924
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author Feldman, Mitra
Lacey Krylova, Vera
Farrow, Poppy
Donovan, Laura
Zandamela, Edson
Rebelo, Joaquim
Rodrigues, Maria
Bulo, Antonio
Ferraz, Carlos
Rodrigues, Humberto
Roca-Feltrer, Arantxa
Baker, Kevin
author_facet Feldman, Mitra
Lacey Krylova, Vera
Farrow, Poppy
Donovan, Laura
Zandamela, Edson
Rebelo, Joaquim
Rodrigues, Maria
Bulo, Antonio
Ferraz, Carlos
Rodrigues, Humberto
Roca-Feltrer, Arantxa
Baker, Kevin
author_sort Feldman, Mitra
collection PubMed
description Healthcare workers (HCWs) are at the frontline of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic response, yet there is a paucity of literature on their knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) in relation to the pandemic. Community Health Workers (CHWs) in Mozambique are known locally as agentes polivalentes elementares (APEs). While technical guidance surrounding COVID-19 is available to support APEs, communicating this information has been challenging due to restrictions on travel, face-to-face group meetings and training, imposed from May to August 2020. A digital health platform, upSCALE, that already supports 1,213 APEs and 299 supervisors across three provinces, is being used to support APEs on effective COVID-19 management by delivering COVID-19 sensitive SMS messages, training modules and a COVID-19 KAP survey. The KAP survey, conducted from June 2020 to August 2020, consisted of 10 questions. Of 1,065 active upSCALE APEs, 28% completed the survey. Results indicate that only a small proportion of APEs listed the correct COVID-19 symptoms, transmission routes and appropriate prevention measures (n = (25%), n = (16%) and n = (39%), respectively) specifically included in national health education materials. Misconceptions were mainly related to transmission routes, high risk individuals and asymptomatic patients. 84% said they followed all government prevention guidelines. The results from the KAP survey were used to support the rapid development and deployment of targeted COVID-19 awareness and education materials for the APEs. A follow-up KAP survey is planned for November 2020. Adapting the existing upSCALE platform enabled a better understanding, in real time, of the KAP of APEs around COVID-19 management. Subsequently, supporting delivery of tailored messages and education, vital for ensuring a successful COVID-19 response.
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spelling pubmed-78754192021-02-19 Community health worker knowledge, attitudes and practices towards COVID-19: Learnings from an online cross-sectional survey using a digital health platform, UpSCALE, in Mozambique Feldman, Mitra Lacey Krylova, Vera Farrow, Poppy Donovan, Laura Zandamela, Edson Rebelo, Joaquim Rodrigues, Maria Bulo, Antonio Ferraz, Carlos Rodrigues, Humberto Roca-Feltrer, Arantxa Baker, Kevin PLoS One Research Article Healthcare workers (HCWs) are at the frontline of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic response, yet there is a paucity of literature on their knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) in relation to the pandemic. Community Health Workers (CHWs) in Mozambique are known locally as agentes polivalentes elementares (APEs). While technical guidance surrounding COVID-19 is available to support APEs, communicating this information has been challenging due to restrictions on travel, face-to-face group meetings and training, imposed from May to August 2020. A digital health platform, upSCALE, that already supports 1,213 APEs and 299 supervisors across three provinces, is being used to support APEs on effective COVID-19 management by delivering COVID-19 sensitive SMS messages, training modules and a COVID-19 KAP survey. The KAP survey, conducted from June 2020 to August 2020, consisted of 10 questions. Of 1,065 active upSCALE APEs, 28% completed the survey. Results indicate that only a small proportion of APEs listed the correct COVID-19 symptoms, transmission routes and appropriate prevention measures (n = (25%), n = (16%) and n = (39%), respectively) specifically included in national health education materials. Misconceptions were mainly related to transmission routes, high risk individuals and asymptomatic patients. 84% said they followed all government prevention guidelines. The results from the KAP survey were used to support the rapid development and deployment of targeted COVID-19 awareness and education materials for the APEs. A follow-up KAP survey is planned for November 2020. Adapting the existing upSCALE platform enabled a better understanding, in real time, of the KAP of APEs around COVID-19 management. Subsequently, supporting delivery of tailored messages and education, vital for ensuring a successful COVID-19 response. Public Library of Science 2021-02-10 /pmc/articles/PMC7875419/ /pubmed/33566850 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0244924 Text en © 2021 Feldman et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Feldman, Mitra
Lacey Krylova, Vera
Farrow, Poppy
Donovan, Laura
Zandamela, Edson
Rebelo, Joaquim
Rodrigues, Maria
Bulo, Antonio
Ferraz, Carlos
Rodrigues, Humberto
Roca-Feltrer, Arantxa
Baker, Kevin
Community health worker knowledge, attitudes and practices towards COVID-19: Learnings from an online cross-sectional survey using a digital health platform, UpSCALE, in Mozambique
title Community health worker knowledge, attitudes and practices towards COVID-19: Learnings from an online cross-sectional survey using a digital health platform, UpSCALE, in Mozambique
title_full Community health worker knowledge, attitudes and practices towards COVID-19: Learnings from an online cross-sectional survey using a digital health platform, UpSCALE, in Mozambique
title_fullStr Community health worker knowledge, attitudes and practices towards COVID-19: Learnings from an online cross-sectional survey using a digital health platform, UpSCALE, in Mozambique
title_full_unstemmed Community health worker knowledge, attitudes and practices towards COVID-19: Learnings from an online cross-sectional survey using a digital health platform, UpSCALE, in Mozambique
title_short Community health worker knowledge, attitudes and practices towards COVID-19: Learnings from an online cross-sectional survey using a digital health platform, UpSCALE, in Mozambique
title_sort community health worker knowledge, attitudes and practices towards covid-19: learnings from an online cross-sectional survey using a digital health platform, upscale, in mozambique
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7875419/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33566850
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0244924
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