Development of Short Training Course under the Project’s Name “Animal Free of Rabies: Human are Safe from the Diseases” for Schools and Communities

Abstract

This mixed methods research was to develop the short training course under the project’s name “Animal Free of Rabies: Human are Safe from the Diseases” for schools and communities. The research was divided into 3 phases as follows: Phase 1: the descriptive research was used to study the circumstances related to the model and learning management about rabies prevention at the educational institution level. The sample consisted of 1,008 teachers. Data were collected by questionnaire and analyzed by using percentage, mean, standard deviation and content analysis. Phase 2: the descriptive research was used to investigate the suitability of the developed short training course. The sample consisted of 20 qualified experts in rabies and educators. Data were collected by a semi-structured interview form, focus group discussion and the suitability of the course assessment. Data were analyzed by using means, standard deviation, and content analysis.  Phase 3: the quasi-experimental research was used to examine the effectiveness of the course on knowledge, attitudes, practical skills for rabies prevention and participant's satisfaction evaluation on the course.  The sample consisted of 97 participants. The instruments of this study were the short training course with the course manual and the EDURA Information System manual. Data were collected by a knowledge test, an attitude test, a rabies behavior assessment form, and the course satisfaction questionnaire. Data were analyzed by using percentage, mean, standard deviation and tested the difference of the Paired t-test.

The results of the first phase of research showed that in the past 3 years the sample group had never been trained on rabies prevention (98.8%), had never been trained on the development of educational materials for teaching or various innovations on rabies prevention (94.4%), no disease prevention activities in schools (64.2 %), only 4.9 % of schools had rabies prevention policies in schools, most schools did not have rabies prevention learning models (57.5 %) and no rabies learning materials (59.8%). Most schools do not have the Surveillance System for rabies prevention in schools (53.0%). There should be promotion and support such as posters, brochures, and facilitators for schools.  The sample group agreed on the management of rabies knowledge learning management, especially the issues of the main symptoms/behavior when people transmitted by bites and scratches from an infected animal (99.5%), followed by the understanding of correct animal husbandry (99.3%), the media development technique included media publication preparation (97.3%), teaching kit development (95.4%) with content consisting of knowledge of rabies and techniques for developing teaching materials and the Surveillance Pattern Response to rabies epidemic events.

The results of the second phase of research revealed that the short-term training course was most suitable for learning management training at the highest level.

As for the third phase of research, the effectiveness of the course revealed that the participants had the posttest mean scores of knowledge about rabies, attitudes toward rabies prevention, and practices to prevent rabies higher than the pretest mean scores with a statistically significant difference at the 0.05 level. The satisfaction assessment of the participants on the course indicated that the average score of satisfaction with the short training course along with the course manual, and the EDURA Information Systems manual at the highest level in all issues. The mean score of satisfaction with the EDURA Information System at the high level.