Version 1
: Received: 20 March 2023 / Approved: 21 March 2023 / Online: 21 March 2023 (02:39:23 CET)
How to cite:
Imamatsu, Y.; Tadaka, E. Factors Associated with Competence in Preventing Non-communicable Diseases among Community Health Workers in Japan. Preprints2023, 2023030367. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202303.0367.v1
Imamatsu, Y.; Tadaka, E. Factors Associated with Competence in Preventing Non-communicable Diseases among Community Health Workers in Japan. Preprints 2023, 2023030367. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202303.0367.v1
Imamatsu, Y.; Tadaka, E. Factors Associated with Competence in Preventing Non-communicable Diseases among Community Health Workers in Japan. Preprints2023, 2023030367. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202303.0367.v1
APA Style
Imamatsu, Y., & Tadaka, E. (2023). Factors Associated with Competence in Preventing Non-communicable Diseases among Community Health Workers in Japan. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202303.0367.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Imamatsu, Y. and Etsuko Tadaka. 2023 "Factors Associated with Competence in Preventing Non-communicable Diseases among Community Health Workers in Japan" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202303.0367.v1
Abstract
Background Community health workers (CHWs) drawn from the general population are an important human resource in health care systems, preventing non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and contributing to an increase in healthy life expectancy in Japan. Thus, we have developed the COmmunity health workers perceptual and behavioral Competency Scale for preventing Non-communicable diseases (COCS-N) to measure CHWs’ competence in preventing NCDs. The purpose of this study is to examine individual and community factors affecting CHWs’ COCS-N scores. Methods Municipal public health nurses and other public health professionals are responsible for training and supporting CHWs in Japan. Therefore, the existence of CHWs and their willingness to participate in the study were confirmed with the municipalities, who were asked to distribute the self-administered questionnaire to CHWs where consent was obtained (N = 6,480). Variables used included demographic characteristics, COCS-N scores, and individual- and community-related factors. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess associations between variables. Results A total of 3,120 people completed the questionnaire, a valid response rate of 48.1%. The respondents’ mean age was 67.0 years (standard deviation = 9.0), and 88.0% were female. Comparison of the high- and low- competence groups in terms of NCD prevention based on COCS-N scores identified 13 factors associated with significant differences, including years spent working as a CHW (p < 0.001), subjective sense of health (p = 0.005), European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire (HLS-EU-Q47) scores (p < 0.001), and community commitment scale (CCS) scores (p < 0.001). Logistic regression analysis revealed that HLS-EU-Q47 scores (odds ratio [OR]: 1.02, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.02–1.03) were a significant individual factor, while CCS scores (OR: 1.14, 95% CI: 1.11–1.16) were a significant community factor. Conclusions We found that the COCS-N score was associated with the individual factors overall health literacy (HL), perceptions of HL, and subjective sense of health, and with the community factor CCS scores. These results suggest that strengthening individual factors such as HL and subjective sense of health, and community factors such as sense of community is an effective strategy for increasing CHWs’ competence in preventing NCDs.
Keywords
Community health workers; Competence in prevention of non-communicable diseases; Associated factors literacy; Community commitment
Subject
Public Health and Healthcare, Health Policy and Services
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
