Integrating community health workers into the formal health system to improve performance: a qualitative study on the role of on-site supervision in the South African programme.

ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVES:To explore the role of on-site supervision in community health worker (CHW) programmes and CHW integration into the health system. We compared the functioning of CHW teams reporting to a clinic-based nurse with teams supervised by a community-based nurse. We also consider whether a junior nurse can provide adequate supervision, given the shortage of senior nurses. DESIGN:A case study approach to study six CHW teams with different configurations of supervision and location. We used a range of qualitative methods: observation of CHW and their supervisors (126 days), focus group discussions (12) and interviews (117). SETTING:South Africa where a national CHW programme is being implemented with on-site supervision. PARTICIPANTS:CHWs, their supervisors, clinic managers and staff, dis

SUBMITTER: Tseng YH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6398712 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature