Ruebush T K, Weller S C, Klein R E
Medical Entomology Research and Training Unit-Guatemala, Division of Parasitic Diseases, National Center for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30333.
Soc Sci Med. 1994 Jul;39(1):123-31. doi: 10.1016/0277-9536(94)90172-4.
Since the late 1950s, most malaria surveillance and treatment in rural areas of Latin America has been carried out by networks of unpaid community malaria workers, known as Volunteer Collaborators, who are selected and supervised by staff of the national malaria services (NMSs) in each country. In spite of the free and readily accessible antimalarial treatment available at these Volunteer Collaborator posts, many residents continue to seek treatment elsewhere and in most cases take doses of antimalarials that are insufficient to cure their infections. To identify ways in which the Volunteer Collaborator Network could be made more attractive to residents and to improve the process of selection of new workers, we asked community residents and Guatemalan NMS workers to rank order, according to their importance, 11 qualities or characteristics of an 'ideal' volunteer malaria worker. Community residents preferred someone who is available to take care of patients at all times of the day, is a responsible person, and has a general knowledge of medicine. No significant differences were noted in the rank orders of male and female residents or literate and illiterate residents. National Malaria Service workers also preferred someone who takes care of patients at all times of the day, even when busy. In addition, they wanted individuals who recognize the importance of their work as a Volunteer Collaborator, but choosing volunteers who had a general knowledge of medicine was not important. By modifying the procedures used to select Volunteer Collaborators so as to identify candidates with the qualities preferred by residents, it should be possible to increase acceptance and improve the performance of these volunteer workers.
自20世纪50年代末以来，拉丁美洲农村地区的大多数疟疾监测和治疗工作由无偿的社区疟疾防治人员网络开展，这些人员被称为志愿协作者，由每个国家的国家疟疾防治机构（NMSs）工作人员挑选和监督。尽管在这些志愿协作者岗位可获得免费且易于获取的抗疟治疗，但许多居民仍继续在其他地方寻求治疗，而且在大多数情况下服用的抗疟药剂量不足以治愈感染。为了确定如何使志愿协作者网络对居民更具吸引力，并改进新工作人员的选拔过程，我们让社区居民和危地马拉国家疟疾防治机构工作人员根据其重要性对“理想”志愿疟疾防治人员的11种品质或特征进行排序。社区居民更喜欢随时能照顾患者、有责任心且具备医学常识的人。男性和女性居民、识字和不识字居民的排序没有显著差异。国家疟疾防治机构工作人员也更喜欢随时照顾患者的人，即使在忙碌时也是如此。此外，他们希望个人认识到作为志愿协作者工作的重要性，但选择具备医学常识的志愿者并不重要。通过修改选拔志愿协作者的程序，以识别具有居民偏好品质的候选人，应该有可能提高这些志愿工作者的接受度并改善其表现。
