Knowledge of Anganwadi workers regarding different components provided by integrated child development scheme: A cross-sectional study

Introduction: Integrated child development service (ICDS) program was launched on October 02, 1975 and is the world's largest and unique program for early childhood care and development. It is working in urban and rural areas through Anganwadi centers. The beneficiaries that come under ICDS are 0–6 year's children, pregnant and lactating women, and adolescent girls. There are six core services provided by ICDS through Anganwadis. It is very essential to assess the knowledge of Anganwadi workers (AWWs) about different components of ICDS. Objective: The objective of the study was to assess the knowledge status of AWW regarding different ICDS components and to compare the knowledge of AWW working in rural and urban areas. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from February to December 2016 among AWWs of urban and rural health centers under KLE University, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College. Data collection was done with the help of prestructured questionnaire through interview method. Results: Out of 218 AWW, 33.9% were from urban areas and 66.1% were from rural areas. Maximum number (47.2%) of AWWs were found to be in the age group of 39–47 years. Majority of the AWW (52.3%) had working experience of 16–23 years. Our study found that 68.3% of AWW had moderate knowledge score about components of ICDS, 18.3% had low, and 13.3% had high knowledge score. Knowledge related to supplementary nutrition was found to be good in urban AWWs and knowledge of growth monitoring was found to be good in rural AWWs. Conclusion: Maximum number of AWWs had average knowledge score regarding ICDS components. It is important to organize frequent refreshers training course to enable them to give best of services.