Can we teach an old dog new tricks? Teaching how to design, implement and evaluate behaviour change interventions to health promoters in Paraguay and Bangladesh

Background. Behaviour change interventions (BCIs) have been widely used to promote health in communities. However, health practitioners rarely carry out the whole procedure of BCIs. Training health promoters might have the potential to change practitioners’ practices which ultimately might lead to behaviour change in the real world.Objective. To evaluate the effects of a ten-module training about behaviour change on practicioners’ knowledge, self-efficacy and intention towards using behaviour change interventions.Methods. A theoretical and practical training on how to elaborate, implement and evaluate theory- and evidence-based behaviour change interventions was delivered to Health Promotion Technicians (N=40) working in Paraguay (2022) and Bangladesh (2024). Knowledge about BCIs was assessed by using a multiple-choice test. Moreover, self-efficacy and intention towards elaborating and evaluating BCIs were assessed by using scales, four times for the participants in Paraguay and twice for Bangladesh. Multilevel analysis was used to analyse the data.Results. Knowledge (b = 4.95, CI [3.73, 6.17], p < .001), self-efficacy towards using BCIs (b = 0.65, CI [0.35, 0.94], p < .001) and intention towards using BCIs (b = 0.36, CI [0.12, 0.60], p = .005) significantly increased over the time of the training.Conclusions. The training seems to increase the health technicians’ knowledge, self-efficacy and intention towards using BCIs. Further studies and further collaborations with non-governmental organizations working with often neglected communities (e.g., minorities, people living in rural areas) should assess the effectiveness of the training and assess changes in actual community health.