PARTICIPATORY LEARNING-MATERIALS FOR HEALTH PROMOTION IN GHANA - A CASE-STUDY

This paper reports on operational research carried out by the Kumasi H ealth Education Project in Ghana to study the utilisation of participa tory/empowerment learning methods for health promotion. The Project us ed community-based workshops to develop an extensive range of particip atory materials on child health and followed these up with in-service training of 367 teachers and 157 public health workers (nurses and env ironmental health officers). A simple random sample of about half (262 ) of the participants was taken 6 months later and these personnel wer e asked to complete a self-reporting questionnaire to evaluate the for mat, content and usefulness of the materials. Results were compared wi th focus-group discussions with mothers attending well baby clinics, a t home, in market-places and with pupils at school. The field agents r eported a high degree of satisfaction with the training and claimed to be utilising the methods. However, this contrasted with the interview s with target groups who reported a low level of exposure to the mater ials. Those who had been exposed to materials reported a high level of satisfaction and recall of messages. Further focus-group discussions were carried out with field agents and their managers, and four sets o f reasons for low utilisation emerged: the quality of participatory le arning materials; personal attributes of the users and the impact of t raining; situational factors including the location and timing of educ ational sessions; and the support from peers/supervisors. The experien ces in Kumasi are critically assessed and indicate that uptake of part icipatory/empowerment methods for health promotion depends on the qual ity of the materials and the selection, training and support provided to field staff.