School of Public Health, Saint Paul's Hospital Millennium Medical College, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Ethiopian Health Education and Promotion Professionals Association (EHEPA), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
BMC Public Health. 2024 Mar 1;24(1):663. doi: 10.1186/s12889-024-18084-x.
Social and Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) plays a critical role in improving behavior and health outcomes across the continuum of healthcare. Failing to implement tailored SBCC strategies continues to pose a risk of ill health, increase disease burden, and impact the quality life of people. In Ethiopia, front-line healthcare system actors' knowledge and skills about SBCC have not been rigorously assessed. Thus, the current study aimed to assess healthcare system actors' competencies in designing, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating SBCC interventions in Ethiopia.
A cross-sectional study was conducted between 01 August and 31 October, 2020. Five hundred twenty-eight frontline healthcare system actors in SBCC in Ethiopia were included using simple random sampling technique. Data was collected using a self-administered structured questionnaire adopted from Communication for Change; SBCC capacity assessment tool. Descriptive analysis frequencies, percentages, mean, median, standard deviation (SD), interquartile range (IQR) were employed. Besides correlations and linear regression with robust standard errors were carried out. A 95% confidence interval and a p-value of less than 0.05 were used to declare significant statistical association.
A total of 488 frontline workers participated in the study, with a response rate of 92.4%. The mean SBCC knowledge score was 13.2 ± standard deviation (SD) 3.99 and 59.2% scored below 60% of the expected maximum score. The standard mean score of overall skill in SBCC intervention was 2.36 (SD ± 0.98) and 52.6% of them scored below mean score. The SBCC knowledge was significantly predicted by the service year and the regional variation. On the other hand, SBCC skills was significantly predicted by sex, service year, profession, regional variation, and SBCC knowledge. The regional variation was the main predictor of both knowledge and skill on SBCC. The regression models explained 23.1% and 50.2% of the variance in knowledge and skill of SBCC, respectively.
Front-line healthcare system actors in Ethiopia has low knowledge and skills in SBCC. Variations in SBCC knowledge and skill were observed based on demographic and professionals experience related characteristics. Hence, continuous capacity building activities need to be given to frontline healthcare system actors to enhance their knowledge and skill on SBCC program and achieve the intended health results.
社会和行为改变交流（SBCC）在改善整个医疗保健连续体中的行为和健康结果方面发挥着关键作用。未能实施量身定制的 SBCC 策略仍然存在健康不良风险、增加疾病负担，并影响人们的生活质量。在埃塞俄比亚，一线医疗保健系统行为者对 SBCC 的知识和技能尚未经过严格评估。因此，本研究旨在评估埃塞俄比亚医疗保健系统行为者在设计、实施、监测和评估 SBCC 干预措施方面的能力。
这是一项横断面研究，于 2020 年 8 月 1 日至 10 月 31 日进行。使用简单随机抽样技术，在埃塞俄比亚从事 SBCC 的 528 名一线医疗保健系统行为者被纳入研究。数据收集采用了源自“沟通促进变革”的自我管理结构问卷；SBCC 能力评估工具。采用频率、百分比、均值、中位数、标准差（SD）、四分位距（IQR）进行描述性分析。此外，还进行了相关性和带有稳健标准误差的线性回归分析。使用 95%置信区间和 p 值<0.05 来宣布具有显著统计学关联。
共有 488 名一线工作人员参与了研究，响应率为 92.4%。SBCC 知识得分的平均值为 13.2±标准差（SD）3.99，59.2%的得分低于预期最高得分的 60%。SBCC 干预整体技能的标准平均得分为 2.36（SD±0.98），52.6%的得分低于平均得分。SBCC 知识与服务年限和区域差异显著相关。另一方面，SBCC 技能与性别、服务年限、职业、区域差异和 SBCC 知识显著相关。区域差异是 SBCC 知识和技能的主要预测因素。回归模型分别解释了 SBCC 知识和技能方差的 23.1%和 50.2%。
埃塞俄比亚的一线医疗保健系统行为者在 SBCC 方面知识和技能水平较低。根据人口统计学和专业经验相关特征观察到 SBCC 知识和技能的差异。因此，需要为一线医疗保健系统行为者提供持续的能力建设活动，以提高他们在 SBCC 项目方面的知识和技能，并实现预期的健康结果。
