Counseling Skill, Knowledge, And Self-Confidence of Adolescent Health Counselors Working In West Bengal, India

Introduction: The impact of counseling on adolescent health and well-being has been well documented.  The task-shifting in India’s Adolescent health program, from medical to non-medical cadres, necessitates understanding and capacity building of workers’ knowledge and skills. Objective: To assess distribution and determinants of self-rated knowledge, skill and confidence of counseling among adolescent counselors and to explore the demand for learning new skills. Methods: This was an observational study of cross-sectional design on adolescent counselors working under the National adolescent health program. Participants completed a self-administered electronic survey form, where they self-rated their knowledge, counseling skill and confidence on a six-point Likert scale. Mean ratings were dichotomized into high (≥4) or low (<4). Nominal regression analysis was performed to identify predictors of high rating. Counselors were also asked to identify areas where they require additional training. Results: The mean age of counselors was 36.22 years (SD 6.08) and mean service duration was 7.37 years (SD 4.51); 80.2% had completed refresher training. Post-graduation level of education has been achieved by 87.2% of counselors and 86% gave high rating for all domains. High rating was associated with the participant’s mother tongue, place of service and education level by univariate analysis but on nominal regression, it was associated with education level only. The need for additional training was expressed by 67.4% of participants, among which the most common was mental health. Conclusion: The rating of knowledge, counseling skill and confidence was high. Recruiting qualified counselors and clearly defined procedures appears to help in smooth task shifting.