Knowledge of community health workers about viral hepatitis before and after lectures

Keywords: Community health workers, Health education, Continuing education, Human viral hepatites, Primary prevention

Abstract

The objectives were to identify the knowledge of community health workers (CHW) about viral hepatitis (VH), to verify whether lectures improve these knowledge and to check for any association between CHW knowledge and years of practice and previous educational training. In this cross-sectional study, 674 CHW, from six municipalities in the state of Espirito Santo (Southeast Brazil), answered a questionnaire about VH before and after lectures concerning this issue. Scores of the questionnaires and the proportions of correct and wrong answers, before and after lectures, were compared by Wilcoxon and McNemar test, respectively. The association of knowledge with years of experience and previous educational training was explored by Mann-Whitney test. The p value was set at 0.05. CHW presented low levels of knowledge about VH before lectures; these levels increased after lectures; and there was no association between CHW knowledge about VH and years of practice or previous training.

Author Biographies

Soraya Kelly Levoni Borchardt, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo - UFES
Graduated in Physical Therapy at Federal University of Espírito Santo (UFES), Vitória (ES), Brazil.
Letícia Almeida Ferrarini, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo - UFES
Graduated in Physical Therapy at Federal University of Espírito Santo (UFES), Vitória (ES), Brazil.
Tatiane Silva Rocha, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo - UFES
Graduated in Physical Therapy at Federal University of Espírito Santo (UFES), Vitória (ES), Brazil.
Adauto Vieira de Almeida, Associação de Pacientes da Fila de Transplantes e Transplantados do Espírito Santo
President of the Association of Patients in Transplant Waiting List and Patients Submitted to Transplants of Espírito Santo, Vitória (ES), Brazil.
Verena Kise Capellini, Universidade Federal de São Paulo - UNIFESP
Professor at the Department of Biosciences, Institute of Health and Society, Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP), Santos (SP), Brazil.
Flavia Marini Paro, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo - UFES
Professor at the Department of Integrated Education on Health, Federal University of Espírito Santo (UFES), Vitória (ES), Brazil.

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Published
2021-04-30
Section
Artigos Originas - Promoção da Saúde