ArticleTropical medicine and health2021
Impact of village health volunteer support on postnatal depressive symptoms in the remote rural areas of Lao People's Democratic Republic: a cross-sectional study.
Article in Tropical medicine and health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed.
- Article
- Working in pairs: male-female village health volunteers supporting maternal health and community engagement in remote and ethnic communities of Lao PDR-a qualitative study.Tropical medicine and health · 2025Article
- Association between quality performance scorecard scores and health indicators: an ecological study in the Northern provinces of the Lao People's Democratic Republic.Tropical medicine and health · 2025Article
- Effect of trust in village health workers on the use of facility-based follow-up postnatal care services in two districts in the Lao People's Democratic Republic.Tropical medicine and health · 2025Article
- Article
- Assessing maternal and newborn health readiness: Insights from a service availability assessment in five provinces in Laos.PloS one · 2025Article
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14 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundVillage health volunteers (VHVs) are responsible for providing primary care in the communities of Laos. Unlike other districts, in Xepon more than 90% of VHVs are male and therefore experience difficulties interacting with pregnant women. To improve outreach to pregnant women, especially among ethnic minorities, a new project was implemented by local municipalities in 2017: newly selected female VHVs were paired to work with existing male VHVs. The objective of this study was to compare the postnatal depressive symptoms of ethnic minority mothers supported by pair-VHVs and single-VHVs in remote rural areas of Lao People's Democratic Republic (PDR).
methodsA cross-sectional study was conducted in March 2019. Mothers who had delivered a baby within 1 year preceding the study were recruited from 36 villages. Of the 305 mothers, 227 responded. The questionnaires included (1) demographic characteristics such as age, economic status, and birth experience; (2) self-decision to go to a health center/hospital to receive antenatal care; (3) type of VHVs (pair or single), support, and information from VHVs during pregnancy, support from husband and relationship with husband; (4) the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). A Mann-Whitney U test, chi-square test, and multiple linear regression analysis were performed. Ethical approval was obtained from the University of the Ryukyus and National Ethics Committee for Health Research of Lao PDR.
resultsThe average total EPDS score was 5.5 among mothers supported by pair-VHV and 7.0 among mothers supported by single-VHV. Results of the multiple linear regression analysis showed that the EPDS score was significantly lower among mothers supported by pair-VHV (β=-1.18, p <0.05) even after adjusting for economic and biological factors.
conclusionsMothers supported by pair-VHV had a significantly lower EPDS score than those supported by single-VHVs in this study area, suggesting that the support of male and female VHV pairs contributed to improving mental health status among ethnic minority mothers in remote rural areas of Lao PDR. Expanding the program to train female VHVs working with male VHVs is necessary for improving maternal and child health in a rural district of Lao PDR.
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