Maintenance of knowledge acquired by community health workers on hearing health topics: A remote teaching approach

Abstract

ABSTRACT Purpose: to measure the maintenance of knowledge acquired by community health workers about hearing health and check whether it was associated with their age group, education level, and length of service. Methods: an experimental study, in which 30 community health workers participated in four remote meetings. In the first one, data were collected on their age, education level, and length of service. The second and third meetings had educational actions on 1) hearing, 2) hearing health and impairment, 3) organization of Hearing Healthcare Services, 4) hearing aid use and hygiene, and 5) the importance of follow-up visits; also, the immediate post-training quiz was applied. The late post-training quiz was administered in the fourth meeting. Each quiz had 10 problem situations. Knowledge maintenance was measured by comparing the scores of correct answers. Moreover, the participants’ performances were associated with the variables. The data underwent McNemar, Binomial, and Fisher's exact statistical tests, setting the significance level at 5%. Results: there was no difference in correct answers between the quizzes and knowledge maintenance was not related to the variables. Conclusion: the community health workers maintained the acquired knowledge for months after the educational actions, regardless of their age group, education level, or length of service.