Wu Qiong, Zhu Xinya, Xu Tao, Wang Xiaotong, Meng Na, Zhang Yanfeng, Chang Suying
Department of Integrated Early Childhood Development, Capital Institute of Pediatrics, Beijing, China.
Child Health and Development Section, UNICEF China, Beijing, China.
PLoS One. 2025 Jun 26;20(6):e0324372. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0324372. eCollection 2025.
Counselling is an effective behavior change intervention for improving infant and young child feeding (IYCF). The Maternal and Health Department of National Health Commission China and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) China Office jointly developed a combined online and in-person IYCF counselling training course for primary health workers in rural China. This study aims to test feasibility of the combined training model in rural China.
The study was conducted between September 2021 and February 2022 in five counties in Qinghai Province, China. We implemented a "2+1" training model for village health workers in the five counties. This model consisted of a 2-day online training session followed by a 1-day in-person training session. After completing the training, each village health workers were requested to provide 12 IYCF counselling services to caregivers of children aged 6-23 months in their villages. We assessed the IYCF knowledge score of village health workers before and after online training, and collected satisfaction level of village health workers and caregivers by using a scale of 1-5. Values ≥4 were considered a high degree of satisfaction. Furthermore, we presented the per-person cost of the "2+1" training model.
There were a total of 861 village health workers in the five counties, with 802 (93.1%) completed the 2-day online training course and 838 (97.3%) completed the 1-day in-person training course. The mean score of village health workers on IYCF knowledge significantly improved after 2-day online training (72.14 ± 17.84 before training vs. 82.00 ± 17.87 after training, P < 0.001), and their average satisfaction scores on the training were more than 4.5 for all items. Furthermore, more than 95% surveyed caregivers expressed satisfaction with the counselling services provided by village health workers, and around 80% caregivers reported that the counselling solved their feeding problems. The cost of "2+1" training model was ¥238.72 (US$33.38) per person.
This study showed that the combined online and in-person IYCF counselling training is acceptable and feasible with lower cost in rural of Qinghai, which can be scaled up in other rural areas in China.
咨询是改善婴幼儿喂养（IYCF）的一种有效的行为改变干预措施。中国国家卫生健康委员会妇幼司与联合国儿童基金会（UNICEF）驻华办事处联合为中国农村地区的基层卫生工作者开发了一个线上线下相结合的婴幼儿喂养咨询培训课程。本研究旨在检验这种联合培训模式在中国农村地区的可行性。
研究于2021年9月至2022年2月在中国青海省的五个县开展。我们对这五个县的乡村卫生工作者实施了“2 + 1”培训模式。该模式包括为期2天的线上培训课程，随后是为期1天的线下培训课程。培训结束后，要求每位乡村卫生工作者为所在村庄6至23个月儿童的照料者提供12次婴幼儿喂养咨询服务。我们评估了乡村卫生工作者在在线培训前后的婴幼儿喂养知识得分，并使用1至5分的量表收集乡村卫生工作者和照料者的满意度水平。得分≥4分被认为是高度满意。此外，我们还列出了“2 + 1”培训模式的人均成本。
五个县共有861名乡村卫生工作者，其中802人（93.1%）完成了为期2天的线上培训课程，838人（97.3%）完成了为期1天的线下培训课程。经过2天的线上培训后，乡村卫生工作者在婴幼儿喂养知识方面的平均得分显著提高（培训前为72.14 ± 17.84，培训后为82.00 ± 17.87，P < 0.001），并且他们对培训的各项平均满意度得分均超过4.5分。此外，超过95%的受访照料者对乡村卫生工作者提供的咨询服务表示满意，约80%的照料者表示咨询解决了他们的喂养问题。“2 + 1”培训模式的成本为每人238.72元人民币（33.38美元）。
本研究表明，线上线下相结合的婴幼儿喂养咨询培训在青海农村地区是可接受且可行的，成本较低，可在中国其他农村地区推广。
