Nutrition curriculum for voluntary counseling testing counselors in Can Tho city, Vietnam

Abstract

This study was designed to develop the outcomes-based nutrition curriculum, monitor and evaluate the implementation of the nutrition curriculum. All of the VCT counselors (37 staff) and 272 HIV-clients were chosen by systematic random sampling from 10 VCT sites in Can Tho city, Vietnam and participated in the research. Outcomes-based education (OBE) with the concept "Aligning education within the local context" which was used to design the nutrition curriculum. The process of research consisted of three stages: (1) the situation analysis included the analysis of the components of local contexts such as HIV/AIDS related policies, HIV-client's needs for nutritional care and support, nutritional counseling-related demands of VCT site, tasks, and existing the nutritional competency of VCT counselors. The task analysis of nutritional counseling elicited expected main competencies for VCT counselors. Matching each one with components of local context led to the determination of counselors' learning needs. (2) From those, the development of curriculum content, learning activities and assessment criteria for each module were done. (3) The curriculum was evaluated and refined through obtaining feedback from reviewers. The monitoring of the implementation of the curriculum measured the satisfaction of learners, and difficulty level of curriculum content etc. The Quasi experimental study with the "One-Group, Pre-test, and Post-test Design" was applied to evaluate the competency of VCT counsellors and HIV-client's knowledge, attitude, and practice about nutrition. Data analysis by the inferential statistics paired-t-test was applied. There was the significant matched pair increase in competency between before and after OBE among VCT counsellors and the improvement of KAP of HIV-infected clients about nutrition after two months. OB nutrition curriculum could improve local health staff's competency in order to integrate effectively nutritional counseling in VCT sites. The adaptability of OB nutrition curriculum to local context made learners satisfied and local health leaders felt it feasible.