Community engagement platforms for Compassionate Respectful and Caring health service: challenges and opportunities, in Sululta district, Ethiopia

Biniam Kefiyalew , Tezera Tadele , Zeleke Mekonnen , Binyam Tilahun , Bethelhem Anteneh , Alemayehu Teklu
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.20372/ejhbs.v12i1SpecialIssue.324
Submitted: 2021-11-05 12:31:01
Published: 2022-04-11

Background: While evidences existed on the effectiveness of community engagement (CE) in improving outcomes and quality of health care, little is known about the best available community engagement platforms for Compassionate and Respectful Care (CRC) service improvement.

Objective: To explore CE platforms to improve CRC, the facilitators and barriers to successfully implementing these platforms.

Methods: Implementation research was done using phenomenological study design. An interview guideline was used to collect the data. An audio recorder was used, and field notes were also taken. Twenty Key Informants were interviewed by health experts about CE. Audio records were transcribed, and thematic analysis of the text data was performed using qualitative data analysis software Atlas-ti -v-8.

Results: Six CE platforms were identified. These are: the Community Score Card (CSC), Health Development Army (HDA), community forum, women’s conference, citizens’ charter, and health facilities governance board. The existence of HDA, presence of a conducive cultural environment, the readiness of the community to inform service gaps, the existence of effective facilitators (individuals) to mobilize the community, and the presence of Health Extension Workers (HEWs) within a community were available opportunities explored for effective community engagement. Distortion of the public's perception toward the HDA, lack of explicit structure for CRC, and the limited attention by leadership to engage the  community for CRC were some identified barriers that hindered CE for CRC success.

Conclusion: Among the major CE platforms, the CSC and HDA were reported by most of the study participants. The existence of HDA, a conducive cultural environment, and the HEWs embedded within a community were identified facilitators. The public distortion toward the HDA and the limited attention by leadership to engage the  community for CRC were among the identified barriers. Therefore, to effectively engage the public for the CRC improvement, it is important to use the CE platforms in a way that convinces the public, develop a clear structure for implementing CE for CRC, and avail finances and other necessary resources for CE implementation.

 

Keywords

Community Engagement, CRC, Community Engagement Platforms

Authors

Biniam Kefiyalew
Tezera Tadele
Zeleke Mekonnen
Binyam Tilahun
Bethelhem Anteneh
Alemayehu Teklu

How to Cite

Biniam Kefiyalew, Tezera Tadele, Zeleke Mekonnen, Binyam Tilahun, Bethelhem Anteneh, Alemayehu Teklu (2022-04-11). Community engagement platforms for Compassionate Respectful and Caring health service: challenges and opportunities, in Sululta district, Ethiopia. Ethiopian Journal of Health and Biomedical Sciences, Vol. 12 No. 1 (2022), 51-63. https://doi.org/10.20372/ejhbs.v12i1SpecialIssue.324

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Copyright © 2022 The Author(s)

Copyright & Licensing © Year The Author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0) , which permits unrestricted use; sharing (copying and redistributing the material in any medium or format); and adaptation (remixing, transforming, and building upon the material for any purpose), provided the original author(s) and the source are properly cited/credited and a link to the license is provided. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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