Self-Assessment Questions (SAQs) for Study Session 15

Now that you have completed this study session, you can assess how well you have achieved its Learning Outcomes by answering these questions. Write your answers in your Study Diary and discuss them with your Tutor at the next Study Support Meeting. You can check your answers with the notes on the Self-Assessment Questions at the end of this Module.

SAQ 15.1 (tests Learning Outcomes 15.1 and 15.2)

Tirunesh is working in a small village called Shoro. Malaria is a common health problem in the village. The village people believe that malaria is caused by a bad sprit and that it is a self-limiting disease. They do not allow the sick person to take any drugs, because they believe that if the sick person takes the drug, it makes the disease worse. Moreover, there is a belief that no one who gets sick from malaria should go to another place to seek treatment, because they believe that malaria becomes worse if the sick person leaves their dwelling area.

To change these beliefs Tirunesh has planned certain health education activities, and she wants to consult with you on how to develop the most effective health education messages.

  • a.When should she prepare the health messages that she is going to deliver? Why?
  • b.What should be the content of her messages?
  • c.What consideration should she take into account when preparing her messages?
  • d.List the sort of health education activities that she should record.
  • e.Why is it important for her to record all of her health education activities?

Answer

  • a.She should prepare her message about malaria prevention prior to her health education session. A message prepared during the learning session itself may not be in line with the learning objectives, and has little impact on behaviour change.
  • b.She should determine what topic and content needs to be taught, as well as the arrangement of the message, questions to be incorporated, and activities to be accomplished, message forms, and so on.
  • c.When preparing her message, she should take into account the learning objectives, methods, resources, audience, culture and comprehension level of the audience.
  • d.She should record health education activities like the number of people who received health education, the topic, the place where health education was delivered, the method and materials being used, the number of households reached, the number of health education sessions, and any problems encountered.
  • e.Recording all of her health education activities is very important to monitor the progress of her sessions, and to evaluate her performance and achievements, as well as to tell others what she has done, and to prepare reports for concerned bodies, and so on. You should note that others may consider an unrecorded activity not to have been done.

SAQ 15.2 (tests Learning Outcomes 15.3, 15.4 and 15.5)

Chaltu is a Health Extension Practitioner. She is working in a village called Goro. One day she planned to conduct a health education session on the proper use of insecticide-treated mosquito nets (ITNs) to reduce the incidence of malaria in her village. She planned to demonstrate the proper use of bed nets. In her demonstration, she used bed nets, sticks, tacks and rope. Before she started the demonstration, she checked whether all the necessary resources to carry out the demonstration were in place. Two other people assisted her during the demonstration, and 20 people participated in that health education session. She explained each step to them on how they should use the net properly. Based on this information, answer the following questions.

  • a.Identify the inputs Chaltu has used to conduct this health education session.
  • b.What is the output that Chaltu has achieved?
  • c.Identify the type of monitoring Chaltu has undertaken.
  • d.What activities should Chaltu undertake in order to monitor the process of her health education session?
  • e.What achievements should Chaltu record about her health education session?
  • f.What activities should Chaltu report to concerned bodies?
  • g.Why is it important for Chaltu to monitor all of her health education sessions?

Answer

  • a.Bed net, sticks, tacks, rope, two helpers, and Chaltu herself.
  • b.The number of people who received health education (20 people).
  • c.She conducted input monitoring. She checked whether the resources required to carry out the demonstration were in place.
  • d.To monitor the process of the health education session, she could check the process of the demonstration, e.g. whether the bed net was properly demonstrated, whether steps were clearly explained for the participants, whether the message was correctly delivered, and so on.
  • e.After the health education session, she should record and prepare a report. In her report, she should include the number of people who received health education, the message, the method, the materials, the problems encountered, and so on.
  • f.Monitoring is the ongoing routine collection and analysis of information as activities are progressing. In monitoring, she checks whether activities are being carried out as planned.
  • g.Monitoring helps her in several ways. It helps to keep the work on track, it can let you know when things are going wrong, it enables her to determine whether the resources she has are sufficient and are being well used, and to know whether she is doing what she planned to do.

SAQ 15.3 (tests Learning Outcome 15.5)

Match the type of monitoring to the indicators by rearranging the items below.

Using the following two lists, match each numbered item with the correct letter.

  1. Checking whether the resources needed to carry out health education are in place

  2. Checking whether health education methods are used properly

  3. The number of households reached during the health education sessions

  • a.Input monitoring

  • b.Process monitoring

  • c.Output monitoring

The correct answers are:
  • 1 = a
  • 2 = b
  • 3 = c

Summary of Study Session 15