Renewing the Scope of Training and Transfer of Learning among Community Health Service Workers in Ghana: The Intervening Role of Experiential Training

Abstract

This paper examines the extent to which Community Health Service Workers (CHSWs) can effectively transfer the skills acquired from training to the workplace in Ghana. A sample of 200 CHSWs from nine (9) Community-Based Health Planning and Services Campuses in the Amansie West District were surveyed. A modified version of the Learning Transfer System Inventory Scale (LTSIS) by Holton, Bates and Ruona (2000) was used to measure transfer of training, while the Experiential Learning Principles (ELP) of the Association for Experiential Education (2011, paragraph 4) were used to test experiential training. The data were collected using the survey questionnaire. The relationship between experiential training and transfer of training was measured using the structural equation model. The study found that Community Health Service trainees had higher propensity to transfer learning from training programmes to their workplace if the experiential method of training was adopted. It was therefore, concluded that the Ghana Community Health Service Worker can contribute more to health care delivery if their practical training was repackaged into the experiential type of training. it was recommended that management of Community Health Service Workers in Ghana must shift from the traditional abstract method of training and education where the Community Health Service Workers were less involved in the learning and teaching activity, towards the experiential training which involves a cycle of “trying” and “undergoing” an experience by becoming aware of a problem, getting an idea, trying out a response, experiencing the consequences, and either confirming or modifying previous conceptions.