Jain, Anoop, Walker, Dilys M., Avula, Rasmi, Diamond-Smith, Nadia, Gopalakrishnan, Lakshmi, Menon, Purnima, Nimmagadda, Sneha, Patil, Sumeet R., and Fernald, Lia C. H.
Rasmi Avula, Sumeet Patil, Lakshmi Gopalakrishnan, Dilys Walker, Sneha Nimmagadda, Anoop Jain, Nadia Diamond-Smith, Lia C. H. Fernald, and Purnima Menon
Subjects
Rural Population, medicine.medical_specialty, Anganwadi workers, Beneficiary, India, Nursing, Health informatics, Health administration, 03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, Library and Information Studies, Clinical Research, Environmental health, Maternal & Child Health, Medicine, Humans, 030212 general & internal medicine, Preschool, Child, Community Health Workers, Maternal &, business.industry, lcsh:Public aspects of medicine, 030503 health policy & services, Health Policy, Public health, Nursing research, Child Health, lcsh:RA1-1270, Child development, Cross-Sectional Studies, Family planning, Child, Preschool, Public Health and Health Services, Health Policy & Services, Educational Status, Female, Catchment area, Madhya Pradesh, 0305 other medical science, business, Time use, Research Article
Abstract
BackgroundAnganwadi Workers (AWWs) are a group of 1.4 million community health workers that operate throughout rural India as a part of the Integrated Child Development Services program. AWWs are responsible for disseminating key health information regarding nutrition, family planning, and immunizations to the women and children in their catchment area, while maintaining detailed registers that track key beneficiary data, updates on health status, and supply inventory beneficiaries. There is a need to understand how AWWs spend their time on all of these activities given all of their responsibilities, and the factors that are associated with their time use.MethodsThis cross-sectional study conducted in Madhya Pradesh, collected time use data from AWWs using a standard approach in which we asked participants how much time they spent on various activities. Additionally, we estimated a logistic regression model to elucidate what AWW characteristics are associated with time use.ResultsWe found that AWWs spend substantial amounts of time on administrative tasks, such as filling out their paper registers. Additionally, we explored the associations between various AWW characteristics and their likelihood of spending the expected amount of time on preschool work, filling out their registers, feeding children, and conducting home visits. We found a positive significant association between AWW education and their likelihood of filling out their registers.ConclusionsAWWs spend substantial amounts of time on administrative tasks, which could take away from their ability to spend time on providing direct care. Additionally, future research should explore why AWW characteristics matter and how such factors can be addressed to improve AWWs’ performance and should explore the associations between Anganwadi Center characteristics and AWW time use.
Published
2020
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