Refresher Training through Quiz App for capacity building of Community Healthcare Workers or Anganwadi Workers in India

TL;DR

This study develops and evaluates an Android-based quiz app aimed at improving capacity building among Indian Anganwadi Workers, comparing its effectiveness to traditional classroom training methods.

Contribution

The paper introduces a mobile quiz app tailored to AWW training modules and assesses its effectiveness as a scalable alternative to conventional training.

Findings

Quiz app improved AWW knowledge retention compared to traditional methods.

Over 6 lakh AWWs in India used smartphones, enabling digital training.

The app shows potential as an effective, scalable capacity-building tool.

Abstract

High and persistent child malnutrition levels with tardy reduction, seen in successive health surveys, continue to be a matter of concern in India, drawing attention to the need to revamp the four-decade-old Government program, Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS). ICDS field functionaries or Anganwadi Workers' (AWWs) capacity deficit was identified as a significant factor affecting ICDS's effectiveness. Considering rising numbers, over 1.4 million AWWs, and continuously advancing knowledge of community healthcare, conventional training pedagogy is ineffective in building and updating AWWs and their supervisors' capacity, which calls for rethinking, using the ICT approach. Over 6 lakh AWWs in India were smartphone equipped by 2020. An android based quiz app was designed, following AWWs training modules' content and need assessment results. The study investigates the quiz app's effectiveness and compares it with conventional classroom instruction, with a group of AWWs, and discusses ways to make it an adequate substitute.