15 This course was supported by several manuals16, and the follow up consisted of monthly supervision visits for six months, and a one-day Refresher course after the first three months post training. At the end of the six months, trainees were taken for a five-day Trainers’ course. A total of 15 Health workers, including Social Workers, were trained as Trainers, who were expected to train others in Year 2000. As is seen in Section 3.3 below, the training programme was successful, both in terms of the transfer of skills and in the outcome of the treatments offered. 3.3 Nurse Survey [1999] This was an attempt to evaluate the effects of the Basic Skills and the Core Counsellor programmes, and to identify the need for more specialised training in trauma counselling. A questionnaire survey was complemented by a more formal evaluation by an independent consultant, who interviewed a cross-section of the trainees and administrators in Mount Darwin District. Table 1. Demography of the sample. Age[mean; s.dev]: Gender: Male Female Qualification: SRN SCN Specialism Additional training 30.9[4.7] 6 22 21 9 4 16 Of the respondents, about half had not received any training by AMANI. Of those reporting training, all had received the Basic Skills programme and three-quarters had attended the Core Counselling programme. These were acceptable numbers for evaluation purposes since the sample was 44% of the Core Counselling programme. The trainees all indicated that the Basic Skills training was useful to their everyday work, whilst most (85%) indicated that the Core Counselling programme had been useful. In answer to how often the trainees had used their skills in managing psychological disorders, most indicated using the skills on a near daily basis as can be seen from Table 2 [see over]. Table 2. How often acquired skills used Never Once a month Once a fortnight Once a week Every day 1 0 1 1 9 The average number of clients seen was about 18 per nurse, with a total of 210 patients over six months. Three participants indicated that they had seen many patients, but gave no numbers. Despite these relatively low numbers, it should be borne in mind that these nurses saw the patients in addition to their other duties – they were not specialist counsellors or psychiatric nurses- and the effect of this work was to provide additional capacity to the health service. Torture and trauma were examined separately. The trainees were asked whether they had seen torture or trauma cases, and 11 of the 12 indicated that they had. The trainees had not seen as much 16 See Reeler,A.P. [199]), The Chiweshe Nurse-Counsellor Programme: Resource Manual (revised), HARARE:AMANI; Reeler,A.P., MBAPE, P., HLATYWAYO, E., MATSHONA-DUBE, J., & MHETURA, J. [1999], A Trauma Counselling Handbook, HARARE: AMANI. AMANI TRUST: Psycho-Social assistance to Survivors of the Liberation War. A report on Mashonaland Central Province, Zimbabwe.