Effects of a self-efficacy enhancement program on self-efficacy and dementia risk screening skills among village health volunteers
Keywords:
self-efficacy, program, dementia-risk screening, village health volunteersAbstract
Dementia significantly impacts the quality of life among the elderly. However, despite the implementation of screening initiatives by Village Health Volunteers (VHVs) via the Smart VHV mobile application, inaccuracies in interpreting Mini-Cog assessments persist, primarily due to a deficit in technical skills and self-efficacy. Consequently, this leads to delayed access to healthcare services for at-risk individuals. This quasi-experimental, two-group pretest–posttest study aimed to investigate the effects of a self-efficacy enhancement program on the self-efficacy and dementia risk screening skills of VHVs in Ban Muang District, Sakon Nakhon Province.
Sample were 51 VHVs, with 24 participants in the experimental group and 27 in the control group. The experimental group attended two three-hour program sessions. The program demonstrated a content validity index of 0. 98. The data collection instruments included a selfefficacy questionnaire and a dementia-risk screening skill questionnaire. Validity test by five experts revealed content validity index values of 0. 91 and 0. 91, respectively. The reliability of the instruments was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha, which yielded coefficients of 0.94 and 0.87, respectively. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and t-tests.
The findings indicated that the experimental group showed significantly higher mean scores of self-efficacy and screening skills than those of the control group (t = 6.136, p < 0.001; t = 17.424, p < 0.001, respectively). Additionally, the mean scores of self-efficacy and screening skills in the experimental group after the intervention were significantly higher than those before the intervention (t = 11.19, p < 0.001; t = 12.73, p < 0.001), respectively.
Therefore, the self-efficacy enhancement program can be applied for enhancing self-efficacy and dementia-risk screening skills among village health volunteers. Furthermore, the program and associated innovations should be integrated into primary health care systems, alongside policy and budget advocacy, with long-term follow-up to evaluate the retention of screening skills and selfefficacy among VHVs.
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