Psychosocial skill development among community levels workers working with children in difficult circumstances

Abstract

Community Level Workers (CLWs) are the first respondents to Children in Difficult Circumstances/Need of Care and Protection (CDCs/CNCP). The study aims to develop community resource building on preventive and promotive psychosocial interventions for children in difficult circumstances. The study adopted a quasi-experimental research design with pre & post assessment carried out among the trained CLWs after 16 hours of capacity building program conducted through two days residential training. The training programme was conducted in nine different places across Kerala where Jyothis Charitable Society, Kottayam, Kerala (Reg no: k368/2008) is extending its services. The training focused on Life Skills Education (LSE) & Student Enrichment Program (SEP) for CDCs/CNCP, facilitated by Master Trainers (MTs) with the hand holding support from NIMHANS. A total of 207 female with a mean age of 40.42 ± 12.64 years and had 10.30 ± 8.97 years of experience working as CLWs. Majority of the participants were teachers (64%). The mean knowledge score of the participants increased from 2.04 to 7.78 (P<000) after the training. Capacity building of the grass root level workers will aid in early identification of psychosocial problems among children in difficult circumstances. This will further support in developing skills to address the varied psychosocial issues faced by children in their daily life and education. Life skills educational program and student enrichment program would help children in dealing with challenges in daily life and cope with them effectively.

Keywords

• capacity building
• psychosocial interventions
• children in difficult circumstances
• community level workers.