The TB Youth Education and Outreach Fellowship an innovative new program led by the Cheerful Hearts Foundation selected 23 youth participants from the Awutu Senya Municipal ranged in ages of 15 to 23 years. The competitive application process required applicants to write a brief essay about a health issue in their community. Applications with thoughtful essays who demonstrated an interest in the health professions were selected. The fellowship period was from August 4th 2014 through August 27th 2014.

1. Cheerful Hearts Foundation
Evaluation Summary of
TB Youth Education and Outreach Fellowship
September 1, 2014
The TB Youth Education and Outreach Fellowship an innovative new program led by the
Cheerful Hearts Foundation selected 23 youth participants from the Awutu Senya Municipal
ranged in ages of 15 to 23 years. The competitive application process required applicants to
write a brief essay about a health issue in their community. Applications with thoughtful essays
who demonstrated an interest in the health professions were selected. The fellowship period
was from August 4th 2014 through August 27th 2014. The twenty three fellows received a three
day training where they were versed about the signs, symptoms, treatment and other relevant
areas about TB. Fellows also received talks about volunteerism, engaging individuals during
outreach, and information about the field of nursing, among other areas. The fellowship
sought to not only develop the youth participants professionally, but also to help reduce the
spread of TB through community based health education. On the first day of the program, a
monitoring and evaluation questionnaire was completed by fellows to assess their level of
knowledge about TB. A similar questionnaire was completed by fellows on the final day of the
fellowship program.
The second and third week of the fellowship, fellows canvassed communities of Papasi, CP,
Peace Town, New Market and Nyanyano and educated individuals about the disease.
Education was given to individuals in markets, on the streets, at work sites, and in homes. An
estimated 1500 individuals received health education during the outreach activities. In addition
to house to house outreach, the following schools received TB education presentations: St.
Peter’s School, Great Promise, St. Mary’s Anglican and the churches of ABB New Market
Cornerstone and Trinity Church. A recorded number of twenty referrals were given to
individuals who reported symptoms of TB. During education sessions, individuals who reported
symptoms of the disease were screened for TB using a TB screening questionnaire which was
designed by the TB Alliance in Ghana. Symptoms were scored on a scale that weighted each
symptom with a number. The symptoms of cough for two weeks or more, coughing up blood,
production of sputum, loss of weight in last 3 months, loss of appetite, and fever for more than
a week, were the symptom screen indicators. Each symptom was given a score of 1 to 2. A total
score of 5 or more required a referral for testing. Suspected TB individuals were directed to the
TB alliance office for free testing, and treatment if testing was positive.
The monitoring and evaluation questionnaire which was administered pre and post training
sought to determine if there was a difference between the youth’s knowledge before and after
the program. The monitoring and evaluation result will be used to help Cheerful Hearts
Foundation plan and improve the program for 2015.

2. Analysis of Pre and Post Survey Results:
Question 1: On a scale of 1 to 10 how knowledgeable are you about the signs, symptoms and
methods to reduce Tuberculosis?
Knowledge about signs, symptoms, and methods to reduce
TB, pre and post Training
0 5 10 15 20 25
Post training
Pretraining
very knowledgeable somewhat knowledgeable not knowledgeable
There was a significant increase in youth’s level of knowledge about TB post-training compared
to before the training period.

3. Question 2: How comfortable are you with educating a stranger about TB?
0 5 10 15 20 25
Post Training
Post-Training, it appears that youth were more comfortable with educating a stranger about
TB.
3. How comfortable are you with speaking to a group of individuals about topic you are familiar
with?
Pre-Training
Comfort with educating stranger about TB, pre and post-training
very comfortable somewhat comfortable not comfortable
Comfort with speaking to a group of individuals about topic
0 5 10 15 20 25
Post Training
Pre-Training
familiar with
very comfortable somewhat comfortable not comfortable

4. There was no marked difference between the level of comfort of the participants with speaking
with a group before and after the program.
The final evaluation post training included open ended questions that sought to learn about
what youth had gained from the fellowship and how the fellowship can be improved from the
participants’ view.
The following themes were found to be common in the twenty three evaluations received from
participants:
To the question what struck you as interesting, new, provocative or meaningful during the
fellowship, it was a common theme that the fellowship allowed youth to develop their
confidence. The word boldness was used by many participants to describe what they had
gained from the fellowship. Many reported that they learned how to talk to people about a
disease. The increased comfort to talk in public and overcome shyness was another sentiment
reported by many participants.
Participants also reported that the knowledge that they gained about TB was something
meaningful they received during the fellowship. Through the process of educating the public,
they were able to raise the awareness about the disease to those who were ignorant or not
knowledgeable.
The outreach period required that youth go out into the community and deliver education to a
range of individuals. Many spoke about the fellowship providing them the ability to speak to
groups, elders and others.
Youth participants also reported that the fellowship needed improvement in a few areas. They
thought that time management during the program could have been improved. Some would
have liked more time to educate individuals in the community. Others thought that time was
wasted waiting for participants to arrive during the daily start of the program. This delayed
outreach being done on time. Youth also reported that leaders’ punctuality could also have
been improved.
There was also consensus among many that it would have been useful to have literature to give
to individuals who did not have the time to listen to health educators.
Additionally, although transportation was provided to most locations for outreach, participants
would have liked that transportation was provided more consistently in either the form of
transportation fee or a vehicle to transport to locations.
In addition to the questionnaire, the Executive Director of CHF, Eric Opoku Agyemang also
conducted a focus group with youth during the closing ceremony to gain any additional
feedback youth had about the program. Additional feedback which was received from the focus
group, is that many of the youth reported now having a greater passion for volunteerism, and

5. for those who are in need. Additionally youth felt that the fellows were not familiar with the
outreach areas they were taken to, so because of this, the outreach component was not
maximized. Youth reported that they will continue to spread the word about TB and share the
invaluable information they received.
Overall, it can be concluded that the TB Youth Education and Outreach Fellowship was a great
success. The program achieved its goal of developing youth professionally, and helping them to
explore some of their potential, and helping them develop an interest in public health.
Additionally, the program successfully reached an estimated 1500 individuals and educated
them about Tuberculosis. Moving forward this program has the potential to create a
meaningful impact in the public health environment of Ghana.