Building a middle-range theory of free public healthcare seeking in sub-Saharan Africa: a realist review.

ABSTRACT: Realist reviews are a new form of knowledge synthesis aimed at providing middle-range theories (MRTs) that specify how interventions work, for which populations, and under what circumstances. This approach opens the 'black box' of an intervention by showing how it triggers mechanisms in specific contexts to produce outcomes. We conducted a realist review of health user fee exemption policies (UFEPs) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This article presents how we developed both the intervention theory (IT) of UFEPs and a MRT of free public healthcare seeking in SSA, building on Sen's capability approach. Over the course of this iterative process, we explored theoretical writings on healthcare access, services use, and healthcare seeking behaviour. We also analysed empirical studies on UFEPs and h

SUBMITTER: Robert E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5886156 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature