Nursing
87 Correlating Demographic Data with Preferred Learning Styles to Improve Neonatal Resuscitation Training for Guatemalan Lay Midwives
Ella Baker
Faculty Mentor: Lauri Linder (Nursing, University of Utah)
ABSTRACT
Midwives throughout the world practice in vastly different geographic areas, socioeconomic contexts, and with a variety of resources. Though midwives attend the majority of births across the globe, their role and educational opportunities are not standardized. Training in crucial skills, such as neonatal resuscitation, is often inadequate or inaccessible to midwives with limited literacy in developing countries, such as Guatemala. While the Guatemalan government has offered midwifery training since 1955, the training has failed to change midwife knowledge because they are taught with written materials in Spanish, even though many midwives have limited literacy and speak Mayan dialects. More information is needed about how midwives best learn. This project aims to explore the learning styles of midwives in the context of neonatal resuscitation training with a larger goal of ultimately decreasing neonatal mortality. The project was conducted at Refuge International Health Clinic in San Raymundo, Guatemala, which is a suburban area located approximately 30 kilometers from Guatemala City. The project included 12 midwives with 1 to 46 years of midwifery practice experience. Participants reported a range of literacy from none to an ability to read and write in Spanish, and education levels ranged from elementary school through university. By means of a select-all-that-apply question added to a general demographic survey, the preferred learning styles of the lay midwives were assessed. Response options to the question, “What methods best serve your learning?” included color drawings, black and white drawings, verbal instruction, demonstration, storytelling, written instruction, hands-on practice, verbally repeating what you learned to someone else, acting out what you learned, writing down what you learned, and/or watching a video. Participants could select all methods that applied. The work of this pilot study provided several insights into how this education can be better suited to learner needs. First, more color drawings should be included in distributed written materials. Color drawings were far preferred to black and white drawings by those included in the pilot study. Next, for indigenous participants whose first language is not Spanish, administrators should consider having Kaqchikel translators available, or avoid the use of complex medical terminology if translators are unavailable. From the findings of this study, it is clear that learning is a collaborative process. Program facilitators should regularly evaluate learner preferences and attempt to apply them as possible.
INTRODUCTION
Lay midwives are invaluable figures within maternal and infant health care, and especially so in developing countries. In fact, one study found