Participatory capacity development: Report of a community-based training needs assessment in Vietnam

ABSTRACT

Training needs assessments can lead to participatory capacity development. However, few reports exist on this from an occupational therapy perspective. The purpose of this paper is to recount the experience and process of a training needs assessment in a mountain area of Vietnam. We visited 10 families and their children with disabilities and interviewed three local project partners to gain insight into their needs for supporting the participation of children with disabilities in daily activities. Four themes were identified through the needs assessment: ‘Getting to know the context’, ‘The life and biggest worries of families with children with disabilities’, ‘Support of children with disabilities and their families’, ‘Wishes and needs for future training’. The outcomes revealed specific needs for improving participation and functioning in activities of daily life from different perspectives. It showed how the needs fit the concepts of occupational therapy as a client-centred profession focusing on participation in daily life.

KEYWORDS:

• Caregiver
• community health worker
• disability
• participation
• occupational therapy

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all children, families, community health workers, MACDI staff and RCI staff for sharing their experiences and opinions. Furthermore, we would like to thank Sylvie Suijkerbuijk and Michelle van Vliet, occupational therapists and trainers of Butterfly Basket Foundation, Dr Ton Satink and Andrea Gurga for sharing their advice and expertise for this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).