A Health Education Programme To Enhance Knowledge And Communication Skills Of Health Care Workers Serving People Living With HIV/AIDs On Haart In Namibia

ABSTRACT

Namibian health care workers (health care workers) are affected in providing quality health care services to people who are living with HIV / AIDS (PLWHA) if they do not have the necessary knowledge, as well as adequate interpersonal communication and counselling skills. In a health care facility set-up, all patients either come from the community or are referred from the wards or other departments by health care workers. The health care worker as a (sender) conveys information (messages) and a patient (receiver) is expected to comprehend these messages and to respond by giving feedback to the sender who, in turn, provides feedback until the communication process is completed. The process should take place in a conducive environment without any interference, such as noise, to allow the swift completion of the communication process. The messages that both parties convey should be clear, accurate, coherent, and concise. The purpose of the study was to develop a health education programme that would enhance the communication skills and knowledge of health care workers serving PLWHA on HAART in Namibia. The intention was to develop a health education programme (HEP) for strengthening these skills. The population comprised two groups, namely health care workers and HAART patients. A purposive sampling method was used for selecting 23 health care workers and 20 HAART patients. Data was collected through focus group discussions with health care workers and in-depth interviews with HAART patients. Tesch in De Vos, Krueger’s and Casey (2009) theories guided the data analysis process. The programme was developed based on themes of the study and implemented by training health care workers and describing recommendations.