An Evaluation of Community Health Workers’ Knowledge, Attitude and Personal Lifestyle Behaviour in Non-Communicable Disease Health Promotion and Their Association with Self-Efficacy and NCD-Risk Perception

Melaku Kindie Yenit (), Tracy L. Kolbe-Alexander, Kassahun Alemu Gelaye, Lemma Derseh Gezie, Getayeneh Antehunegn Tesema, Solomon Mekonnen Abebe, Telake Azale, Kegnie Shitu and Prajwal Gyawali
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Melaku Kindie Yenit: School of Health and Medical Sciences, Centre for Health Research, University of Southern Queensland, Ipswich, QLD 4305, Australia
Tracy L. Kolbe-Alexander: School of Health and Medical Sciences, Centre for Health Research, University of Southern Queensland, Ipswich, QLD 4305, Australia
Kassahun Alemu Gelaye: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Institute of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Gondar, Gondar P.O. Box 196, Ethiopia
Lemma Derseh Gezie: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Institute of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Gondar, Gondar P.O. Box 196, Ethiopia
Getayeneh Antehunegn Tesema: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Institute of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Gondar, Gondar P.O. Box 196, Ethiopia
Solomon Mekonnen Abebe: Department of Human Nutrition, Institute of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Gondar, Gondar P.O. Box 196, Ethiopia
Telake Azale: Department of Health Promotion and Health Behavior, Institute of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Gondar, Gondar P.O. Box 196, Ethiopia
Kegnie Shitu: Department of Health Promotion and Health Behavior, Institute of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Gondar, Gondar P.O. Box 196, Ethiopia
Prajwal Gyawali: Centre for Health Research, School of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, QLD 4350, Australia

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 9, 1-17

Abstract: Community health workers, also known as health extension workers (HEWs), play an important role in health promotion. This study evaluates HEWs’ knowledge, attitude, and self-efficacy for non-communicable diseases (NCD) health promotion. HEWs (n = 203) completed a structured questionnaire on knowledge, attitude, behaviour, self-efficacy and NCD risk perception. Regression analysis was used to determine the association between self-efficacy and NCD risk perception with knowledge (high, medium, low), attitude (favourable/unfavourable) and physical activity (sufficient/insufficient). HEWs with higher self-efficacy were more likely to have high NCD knowledge (AOR: 2.21; 95% CI: 1.21. 4.07), favourable attitude towards NCD health promotion (AOR: 6.27; 95% CI: 3.11. 12.61) and were more physically active (AOR: 2.27; 95% CI: 1.08. 4.74) than those with lower self-efficacy. HEWs with higher NCD susceptibility (AOR: 1.89; 95% CI: 1.04. 3.47) and perceived severity (AOR: 2.69; 95% CI: 1.46, 4.93) had higher odds of NCD knowledge than their counterparts. Moreover, sufficient physical activity was influenced by HEWs’ perceived NCD susceptibility and perceived benefits of lifestyle change. Therefore, HEWs need to adopt healthy lifestyle choices to become effective role models for the community. Our findings highlight the need to include a healthy lifestyle when training HEWs, which might increase self-efficacy for NCD health promotion.

Keywords: non-communicable disease; knowledge; attitude; lifestyle; community health workers; Ethiopia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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