Abstract
BACKGROUND: Sustainable development goals (SDGs) 3.9.1 and 11.6.2 call for a reduction in deaths and illnesses from air pollution, improving the air quality of cities. The above goals motivate us to organize workshops to improve the health of traffic police, who bear the brunt of air pollution. The paper examines the effect of workshops on the health-seeking behavior of the traffic police in Bhubaneswar city. METHODS: The study conducted two workshops as a quasi-experimental, single-group study at an academic institution in Bhubaneswar. It included 20 traffic police officers (11 male and 9 female). The Kirkpatrick 4-level model was used to assess the effectiveness of the workshops. A paired t-test was used to compare pre- and postworkshop scores. RESULTS: Thirteen traffic police officers rated the workshop sessions as excellent. The score before the workshop ranged from zero to three, with a mean (standard deviation [SD]) of 2.81 (1.0). The postworkshop score had a minimum to maximum score of three to five with a mean (SD) of 4.41 (0.7) (P < 0.005). The effect size d(cohen) (confidence interval [CI]) was 1.87 (3.27-4.71). The mean (SD) of absolute and relative gain was 1.6 (1.0) and 0.93 (1.02), respectively. All 20 traffic police officers showed improvement in health-seeking behavior. The significant lifestyle changes after the workshops ranged between 5% and 75%. CONCLUSION: The test scores indicated statistically significant improvement as the P value recorded was smaller than 0.05. This concludes that the improvement in understanding of the session was statistically significant because of the training imparted.