Evaluation

Evaluating Community-Based Medical Education Programmes in Africa: A Workshop Report

May 2015 by R J Bailey, R K Baingana, I D Couper, C B Deery, D Nestel, H Ross, A S Sagay, Z M Talib

African Journal of Health Professions Education

PEPFAR's Medical Education Partnership Initiative (MEPI) supports medical schools in Africa to increase the capacity and quality of medical education, improve retention of graduates, and promote regionally relevant research. Many MEPI programmes include elements of community-based education (CBE) such as: community placements; clinical rotations in underserved locations, community medicine, or primary health; situational analyses; or student-led research.CapacityPlus and the MEPI Coordinating Center conducted a workshop to share good practices for CBE evaluation, identify approaches that can be used for CBE evaluation in the African context, and strengthen a network of CBE collaborators.This report describes key insights from the workshop, and highlights plans for CBE evaluation among the MEPI institutions.This workshop clearly demonstrated the widespread interest in improving CBE evaluation efforts and a need to develop, implement, and disseminate rigorous approaches and tools relevant to the African context.

TAGS: Community-Based Education, Evaluation, Health Workforce, Medical Schools, MEPI

Use of an Interactive Voice Response System to Deliver Refresher Training in Senegal: Findings from Pilot Implementation and Assessment

March 2015 by Kate E. Gilroy, Abdoulaye Diedhiou, Carie Muntifering Cox, Luke Duncan, Djim Koumtingue, Sara Pacqué-Margolis, Alfredo Fort, Dykki Settle, and Rebecca Bailey

Use of an Interactive Voice Response System to Deliver Refresher Training in Senegal

In-service training reinforces and updates health workers’ knowledge, but it is often expensive and requires providers to leave their posts. Interactive voice response (IVR) is a technology—possible with any type of phone—that delivers information via audio recordings and allows users to provide feedback by pressing a number key. CapacityPlus developed, deployed, and assessed an innovative mLearning system that used a combination of IVR and SMS text messaging to deliver refresher training to family planning providers in Senegal, focusing on management of contraceptive side effects and counseling to dispel misconceptions. The pilot application among 20 midwives, nurses, nursing assistants, and health agents took place in two districts in Thiès Region of Senegal. Evaluation findings showed that an mLearning system that delivers refresher training to family planning providers via simple mobile phones using IVR and SMS text is appropriate, feasible, acceptable, and associated with sustained gains in knowledge.

TAGS: Evaluation, Family Planning, In-Service Training, Interactive Voice Response, mLearning, Senegal

Successes and Challenges: Implementing Health Workforce Strengthening Interventions in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania

November 2012 by Carie Muntifering Cox, Corinne Mahoney Farrell, Crystal Ng, Randi Burlew, and Sara Pacqué-Margolis

Successes and Challenges Poster

Human resources for health (HRH) is a relatively young field. As such, less is known about how to successfully implement health workforce interventions than is known about other types of health interventions (e.g., service delivery) with a longer history of implementation. Presented at the Second Global Symposium on Health Systems Research in Beijing on November 2, 2012, this poster describes results from a qualitative study with staff from USAID-funded HRH projects in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania led by IntraHealth International, which was conducted in recognition of the need for a more systematic approach to understanding the challenges and success factors in implementing HRH interventions.

TAGS: Evaluation, Health Workers, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda

Workplace Violence and Gender Discrimination in Rwanda's Health Workforce: Increasing Safety and Gender Equality

July 2011 by Constance J. Newman, Daniel H. de Vries, Jeanne d'Arc Kanakuze, and Gerard Ngendahimana

Human Resources for Health

This article in Human Resources for Health draws on research conducted during the Capacity Project, the predecessor to CapacityPlus.

Workplace violence has been documented in all sectors, but female-dominated sectors such as health and social services are at particular risk. This article reexamines a set of study findings that directly relate to the influence of gender on workplace violence, synthesizes these findings with other research from Rwanda, and examines the subsequent impact of the study on Rwanda’s policy environment.

TAGS: Evaluation, Gender, Research, Rwanda, Workplace Violence

Occupational Segregation, Gender Essentialism and Male Primacy as Major Barriers to Equity in HIV Care Giving: Findings from Lesotho

June 2011 by Constance J. Newman, Linda Fogarty, Lucia N. Makoae, and Erik Reavely

International Journal for Equity in Health

This article in the International Journal for Equity in Health draws on research conducted during the Capacity Project, the predecessor to CapacityPlus.

Gender segregation of occupations has been recognized as a major source of inequality worldwide with implications for the development of robust health workforces. In sub-Saharan Africa, gender inequalities are particularly acute in HIV/AIDS caregiving (90% of which is provided in the home), where women and girls make up the informal (and mostly unpaid) workforce. Men's and boy's entry into HIV/AIDS caregiving in greater numbers would both increase the equity and sustainability of national and community-level HIV/AIDS caregiving and mitigate health workforce shortages, but notions of gender essentialism and male primacy make this far from inevitable. The Capacity Project partnered with the Lesotho Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in a study of the gender dynamics of HIV/AIDS caregiving to account for men's absence in HIV/AIDS caregiving and investigate ways in which they might be recruited into the community and home-based care workforce. This article presents findings and recommendations resulting from the study.

TAGS: AIDS, Evaluation, Gender, HIV, Lesotho, Research