War Child announces EQUIP success

Our work for EQUIP combines online learning with competency-based assessments for mental health support. WarChild Holland have used the EQUIP platform to host their own tool, WeACT. 

WeACT (Working with Children - Assessment of Competencies Tool) is designed to help non-specialists who are trained to provide mental health and psychosocial support.

From the WarChild Holland site: 

Its main application is to maintain or improve the quality of children’s care by specifically measuring the frontline workers’ competencies to provide children with education, protection and mental health psychosocial support in conflict-affected settings. Using standardized role-plays and observations, it measures a service provider’s competencies on a scale from ‘potential harm’ to ‘advanced’. In this way, service providers are supported to improve their competency levels, and potential harm can be quickly identified, improving the overall quality of care.

An evaluation and feasibility study of the WeACT tool was conducted in Gaza, occupied Palestinian territory, followed by pilot testing in Lebanon in 2019. A full-scale trial was completed in Lebanon in 2020 by adapting a remote approach and in collaboration with George Washington University and the World Health Organisation.

The evaluation study demonstrated "positive results on the reliability and utility of the WeACT, with sufficient inter-rater agreement, excellent internal consistency, sensitivity to assess change, and providing insight needs for remedial training". 

The EQUIP platform is a customised version of our learning management distribution - ANU LMS.