Rehabilitation and blood pressure monitoring training for community health workers: a ten-year study

The purpose of this retrospective study is to examine the impact of a rehabilitation and blood pressure monitoring training program for community health workers in a resource-limited setting over a 10-year period. Participants were home-based palliative care community health workers at St. Gabriel’s Hospital in rural Malawi (n = 139). Data were collected from knowledge tests, skill competency tests, observations of skills in the home setting, and surveys of the community health workers. Descriptive and comparative statistical methods were used to analyze the results. Over the 10 years of training, attendance exceeded 90%. Participants demonstrated a significant increase in knowledge between the post-test and pretest in 9 of the 10 years of annual training (overall p < 0.001). 100% of the participants exhibited competency in all skills across all 10 years of training (averaging 14–5 skills per year). The community health workers reported that the acquired rehabilitation skills benefited the patient, the caregiver, and themselves (> 85% ‘some’ or ‘a lot’). Through a collaborative partnership approach, our study highlights the potential for a community health worker rehabilitation and preventive care training program to build capacity and sustain over a decade.