Piloting a training program for community health workers for type 2 diabetes mellitus in Telangana, India

Abstract

The burden of type 2 diabetes mellitus in India is increasing to epic proportions with 74.2 million living with diabetes. More individuals from lower socio-economic backgrounds and from rural/semi-urban backgrounds are presenting with the condition. Healthcare affordability and accessibility is often a challenge for such individuals. Hence, Accredited Social Health Activists and Auxiliary Nurse Midwives/Multipurpose Health Worker cadres of health workers in India have been entrusted with Non-Communicable Diseases portfolio. A randomized controlled trial was designed to train these health workers. The aim of the study is to pilot the training module developed for the RCT trial and revise the same according to the feedback received. Ethical clearance and trial registration were obtained from IIPHH and CTRI respectively. The pilot was conducted at a neutral venue with ASHA and ANM/MPHA cadres using a tool for feedback for each of the training sections. All the participants found the module useful. Certain modifications were suggested and the same were incorporated into the final training module. The training module was successfully validated.