Background: Community health workers (CHWs) are an important component of the health workforce in many\ncountries. The World Health Organization (WHO) has developed a guideline to support the integration of CHWs\ninto health systems. This study assesses stakeholdersâ?? valuation of outcomes of interest, acceptability and feasibility\nof policy options considered for the CHW guideline development.\nMethods: A cross-sectional mixed methods (quantitative and qualitative) study targeting stakeholders involved\ndirectly or indirectly in country implementation of CHW programmes was conducted in 2017. Data was collected\nfrom 96 stakeholders from five WHO regions using an online questionnaire. A Likert scale (1 to 9) was used to\ngrade participantsâ?? assessments of the outcomes of interest, and the acceptability and feasibility of policy options\nwere considered.\nResults: All outcomes of interest were considered by at least 90% of participants as â??importantâ?? or â??criticalâ??. Most\ncritical outcomes were â??improved quality of CHW health servicesâ?? and â??increased health service coverageâ?? (91.5% and\n86.2% participants judging them as â??criticalâ?? respectively). Out of 40 policy options, 35 were considered as â??definitely\nacceptableâ?? and 36 â??definitely feasibleâ?? by most participants. The least acceptable option (37% of participants rating\nâ??definitely not acceptableâ??) was the selection of candidates based on age. The least feasible option (29% of participants\nrating â??definitely not feasibleâ??) was the selection of CHWs with a minimum of secondary education.\nConclusion: Outcomes of interest and policy options proposed were rated highly by most stakeholders. This finding\nhelps to reinforce their usefulness in meeting the expectations of the CHW guideline end-users to properly integrate\nCHWs into health systems.
Loading....