The experiences and challenges of community health volunteers as agents for behaviour change programming in Africa: a scoping review

References

• Panday S, Bissell P, van Teijlingen E, Simkhada P. Perceived barriers to accessing Female Community Health Volunteers’ (FCHV) services among ethnic minority women in Nepal: a qualitative study. PLoS One. 2019;14:e0217070.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Vareilles G, Marchal B, Kane S, Petrič T, Pictet G, Pommier J. Understanding the motivation and performance of community health volunteers involved in the delivery of health programmes in Kampala, Uganda: a realist evaluation. BMJ Open. 2015;5:e008614.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Vareilles G, Pommier J, Marchal B, Kane S. Understanding the performance of community health volunteers involved in the delivery of health programmes in underserved areas: A realist synthesis. Implem Sci. 2017;12:1-12.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Kuule Y, Dobson AE, Woldeyohannes D, Zolfo M, Najjemba R, Edwin BMR, et al. Community health volunteers in primary healthcare in rural Uganda: factors influencing performance. Front Public Health. 2017;5. DOI:10.3389/fpubh.2017.00062.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Mafigiri DK, McGrath JW, Whalen CC. Task shifting for tuberculosis control: a qualitative study of community-based directly observed therapy in urban Uganda. Glob Public Health. 2012;7:270–21.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Wu KY, Oppert M, Wall KM, Inambao M, Simpungwe MK, Ahmed N, et al. Couples’ voluntary HIV counseling and testing provider training evaluation, Zambia. Health Promot Int. 2018;33:daw108. DOI:10.1093/heapro/daw108
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Jones M, Cameron D. Evaluating 5 years’ NIMART mentoring in South Africa’s HIV treatment programme: successes, challenges and future needs. S Afr Med J. 2017;107:839.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Lewin S, Munabi-Babigumira S, Glenton C, Daniels K, Bosch-Capblanch X, van Wyk BE, et al. Lay health workers in primary and community health care for maternal and child health and the management of infectious diseases. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2010;2017. DOI:10.1002/14651858.CD004015.pub3.
   Google Scholar
• World Health Organisation. Using lay health workers to improve access to key maternal and newborn health interventions in sexual and reproductive health. World Health Org. 2013;13.
   Google Scholar
• Schneider H, Okello D, Lehmann U. The global pendulum swing towards community health workers in low- and middle-income countries: a scoping review of trends, geographical distribution and programmatic orientations, 2005 to 2014. Human Resour Health 2016;14. DOI:10.1186/s12960-016-0163-2
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Mohajer N, Singh D. Factors enabling community health workers and volunteers to overcome socio-cultural barriers to behaviour change: meta-synthesis using the concept of social capital. Hum Resour Health. 2018;16. DOI:10.1186/s12960-018-0331-7
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Leon N, Sanders D, van Damme W, Besada D, Daviaud E, Oliphant NP, et al. The role of ‘hidden’ community volunteers in community-based health service delivery platforms: examples from sub-Saharan Africa. Glob Health Action. 2015;8:27214. DOI:10.3402/gha.v8.27214
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Brunie A, Mercer S, Chen M, Andrianantoandro T. Expanding understanding of community health worker programs: a cross-sectional survey on the work, satisfaction, and livelihoods of CHWs in Madagascar. Inquiry (United States) 2018:55. 10.1177/0046958018798493
   Google Scholar
• Raven J, Wurie H, Idriss A, Bah AJ, Baba A, Nallo G, et al. How should community health workers in fragile contexts be supported: qualitative evidence from Sierra Leone, Liberia and Democratic Republic of Congo. Hum Resour Health. 2020;18. DOI:10.1186/s12960-020-00494-8.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Gabriel AP, Mercado CP. Evaluation of task shifting in community-based DOTS program as an effective control strategy for tuberculosis. Sci World J. 2011;11:11.
   Google Scholar
• Olaniran A, Madaj B, Bar-Zev S, van den Broek N. The roles of community health workers who provide maternal and newborn health services: case studies from Africa and Asia. BMJ Glob Health. 2019;4:e001388.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Nathavitharana RR, Bond P, Dramowski A, Kotze K, Lederer P, Oxley I, et al. Agents of change: the role of healthcare workers in the prevention of nosocomial and occupational tuberculosis. Vol. 46. Presse Medicale; 2017.
   Google Scholar
• Tricco AC, Lillie E, Zarin W, O’Brien KK, Colquhoun H, Levac D, et al. PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR): checklist and explanation [Internet]. Ann Intern Med. 2018;169:467–473. DOI: 10.7326/M18-0850.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Nicholson E, Murphy T, Larkin P, Normand C, Guerin S. Protocol for a thematic synthesis to identify key themes and messages from a palliative care research network. BMC Res Notes. 2016;9. DOI:10.1186/s13104-016-2282-1
   Google Scholar
• Thomas J, Harden A. Methods for the thematic synthesis of qualitative research in systematic reviews. BMC Med Res Methodol. 2008;8. DOI:10.1186/1471-2288-8-45
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Mathes T, Klaßen P, Pieper D. Frequency of data extraction errors and methods to increase data extraction quality: a methodological review. BMC Med Res Methodol. 2017;17.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Bakibinga P, Kamande E, Kisia L, Omuya M, Matanda DJ, Kyobutungi C. Challenges and prospects for implementation of community health volunteers’ digital health solutions in Kenya: a qualitative study. BMC Health Serv Res. 2020;20. DOI:10.1186/s12913-020-05711-7
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Banek K, Nankabirwa J, Maiteki-Sebuguzi C, Diliberto D, Taaka L, Chandler CIR, et al. Community case management of malaria: exploring support, capacity and motivation of community medicine distributors in Uganda. Health Policy Plan. 2015;30:451–461. DOI:10.1093/heapol/czu033
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Laurenzi CA, Skeen S, Rabie S, Coetzee BJ, Notholi V, Bishop J, et al. Balancing roles and blurring boundaries: community health workers’ experiences of navigating the crossroads between personal and professional life in rural South Africa. Health Soc Care Community. 2021;29:1249–1259. DOI:10.1111/hsc.13153
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Loth C, Namisango E, Powell R, Pabst K, Leng M, Hamada M, et al. “From good hearted community members we get volunteers” – an exploratory study of palliative care volunteers across Africa. BMC Palliat Care. 2020;19. DOI:10.1186/s12904-020-00545-w.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Aseyo RE, Mumma J, Scott K, Nelima D, Davis E, Baker KK, et al. Realities and experiences of community health volunteers as agents for behaviour change: evidence from an informal urban settlement in Kisumu, Kenya. Hum Resour Health. 2018;16. DOI:10.1186/s12960-018-0318-4.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Jack BA, Kirton JA, Birakurataki J, Merriman A. The personal value of being a palliative care Community Volunteer Worker in Uganda: a qualitative study. Palliative Med. 2012;26:753–759.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Sam-Agudu NA, Odiachi A, Bathnna MJ, Ekwueme CN, Nwanne G, Iwu EN, et al. “They do not see us as one of them”: a qualitative exploration of mentor mothers’ working relationships with healthcare workers in rural North-Central Nigeria. Hum Resour Health. 2018;16. DOI:10.1186/s12960-018-0313-9.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Kelly A, Mitra S, Elung’At J, Songok J, Jackson S, Christoffersen-Deb A. Can the financial burden of being a community health volunteer in western Kenya exacerbate poverty? Health Promot Int. 2020;35:93–101.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Lusambili AM, Nyanja N, Chabeda SV, Temmerman M, Nyaga L, Obure J, et al. Community health volunteers challenges and preferred income generating activities for sustainability: a qualitative case study of rural Kilifi, Kenya. BMC Health Serv Res. 2021;21. DOI:10.1186/s12913-021-06693-w.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Mlotshwa L, Harris B, Schneider H, Moshabela M. Exploring the perceptions and experiences of community health workers using role identity theory. Glob Health Action. 2015;8:28045.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Jigssa HA, Desta BF, Tilahun HA, McCutcheon J, Berman P. Factors contributing to motivation of volunteer community health workers in Ethiopia: the case of four woredas (districts) in Oromia and Tigray regions. Hum Resour Health. 2018;16. DOI:10.1186/s12960-018-0319-3
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Ormel H, Kok M, Kane S, Ahmed R, Chikaphupha K, Rashid SF, et al. Salaried and voluntary community health workers: exploring how incentives and expectation gaps influence motivation. Hum Resour Health. 2019;17. DOI:10.1186/s12960-019-0387-z.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Zulu JM, Kinsman J, Michelo C, Hurtig AK. Hope and despair: community health assistants’ experiences of working in a rural district in Zambia. Hum Resour Health. 2014;12. DOI:10.1186/1478-4491-12-30
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Chowdhury R, McKague K, Krause H. How workers respond to social rewards: evidence from community health workers in Uganda. Health Policy Plan. 2021;36:239–248.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Swartz A, Colvin CJ. ‘It’s in our veins’: caring natures and material motivations of community health workers in contexts of economic marginalisation. Crit Public Health. 2015;25:139–152.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Puchalski Ritchie LM, van Lettow M, Barnsley J, Chan AK, Schull MJ, Martiniuk ALC, et al. Lay Health Workers experience of a tailored knowledge translation intervention to improve job skills and knowledge: a qualitative study in Zomba district Malawi. BMC Med Educ. 2016;16. DOI:10.1186/s12909-016-0580-x.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Mpembeni RNM, Bhatnagar A, LeFevre A, Chitama D, Urassa DP, Kilewo C, et al. Motivation and satisfaction among community health workers in Morogoro Region, Tanzania: nuanced needs and varied ambitions. Hum Resour Health. 2015;13. DOI:10.1186/s12960-015-0035-1.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Greenspan JA, McMahon SA, Chebet JJ, Mpunga M, Urassa DP, Winch PJ. Sources of community health worker motivation: a qualitative study in Morogoro Region, Tanzania. Hum Resour Health. 2013;11. DOI:10.1186/1478-4491-11-52
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Takasugi T, Lee ACK. Why do community health workers volunteer? A qualitative study in Kenya. Public Health. 2012;126:839–845.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Kok M, Abdella D, Mwangi R, Ntinginya M, Rood E, Gassner J, et al. Getting more than “claps”: incentive preferences of voluntary community-based mobilizers in Tanzania. Hum Resour Health. 2019;17. DOI:10.1186/s12960-019-0438-5.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Maes K. “Volunteers are Not Paid Because They are Priceless”: community health worker capacities and values in an AIDS treatment intervention in urban Ethiopia. Med Anthropol Q. 2015;29:97–115.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Haile F, Yemane D, Gebreslassie A. Assessment of non-financial incentives for volunteer community health workers - the case of Wukro district, Tigray, Ethiopia. Hum Resour Health. 2014;12. DOI:10.1186/1478-4491-12-54
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Closser S, Napier H, Maes K, Abesha R, Gebremariam H, Backe G, et al. Does volunteer community health work empower women? evidence from Ethiopia’s women’s development army. Health Policy Plan. 2019;34:298–306. DOI:10.1093/heapol/czz025
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Maes K, Kalofonos I. Becoming and remaining community health workers: perspectives from Ethiopia and Mozambique. Soc Sci Med. 2013;87:52–59.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• O’Donovan J, Hamala R, Namanda AS, Musoke D, Ssemugabo C, Winters N. ‘We are the people whose opinions don’t matter’. A photovoice study exploring challenges faced by community health workers in Uganda. Glob Public Health. 2020;15:384–401.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Topp SM, Price JE, Nanyangwe-Moyo T, Mulenga DM, Dennis ML, Ngunga MM. Motivations for entering and remaining in volunteer service: findings from a mixed-method survey among HIV caregivers in Zambia. Hum Resour Health. 2015;13. DOI:10.1186/s12960-015-0062-y
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Tuyisenge G, Hategeka C, Luginaah I, Cechetto DF, Rulisa S. “I cannot say no when a pregnant woman needs my support to get to the health centre”: involvement of community health workers in Rwanda’s maternal health. BMC Health Serv Res. 2020;20. DOI:10.1186/s12913-020-05405-0
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Peltzer K, Matseke G, Louw J. Secondary trauma and job burnout and associated factors among HIV lay counsellors in Nkangala district, South Africa. Br J Guid Counc. 2014;42:410–422.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Nyalunga SLN, Ndimande JV, Ogunbanjo GA, Masango-Makgobela A, Bogongo T. Perceptions of community health workers on their training, teamwork and practice: a cross-sectional study in Tshwane district, Gauteng, South Africa. S Afr Family Pract. 2019;61:26.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Kweku M, Amu H, Adjuik M, Manu E, Aku FY, Tarkang EE, et al. Community Involvement and Perceptions of the Community-Based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) strategy for improving health outcomes in Ghana: quantitative comparative evidence from two system learning districts of the CHPS+ project. Adv Public Health. 2020;2020:1–12.
   Google Scholar
• Okyerefo MPK, Fiaveh DY. Prayer and health-seeking beliefs in Ghana: understanding the ‘religious space’ of the urban forest. Health Sociol Rev. 2017;26:308–320.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Kok MC, Namakhoma I, Nyirenda L, Chikaphupha K, Broerse JEW, Dieleman M, et al. Health surveillance assistants as intermediates between the community and health sector in Malawi: exploring how relationships influence performance. BMC Health Serv Res. 2016;16. DOI:10.1186/s12913-016-1402-x.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Panday S, Bissell P, van Teijlingen E, Simkhada P. The contribution of female community health volunteers (FCHVs) to maternity care in Nepal: a qualitative study. BMC Health Serv Res. 2017;17. DOI:10.1186/s12913-017-2567-7
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Lee M. Engaging female community health volunteers in maternal health services and its satisfaction among village mothers in Hill and Mountain Regions, Nepal. AIMS Public Health. 2020;7:778–791.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Alam K, Tasneem S, Oliveras E. Retention of female volunteer community health workers in Dhaka urban slums: a case-control study. Health Policy Plan. 2012;27:477–486.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Reichenbach L, Shimul SN. Sustaining health: the role of BRAC’s community health volunteers in Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Uganda. Res Monogr Ser. 2011;7:1-86.
   Google Scholar
• Biruk C. The lives of community health workers: local labor and global health in Urban Ethiopia. Kenneth Maes, New York: Routledge; 2017, 171 pp. Med Anthropol Q. 2018;32(1).
   Google Scholar
• Woldie M, Feyissa GT, Admasu B, Hassen K, Mitchell K, Mayhew S, et al. Community health volunteers could help improve access to and use of essential health services by communities in LMICs: an umbrella review. Health Policy Plan. 2018;33:1128–1143. DOI:10.1093/heapol/czy094
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Grossman‐kahn R, Schoen J, Mallett JW, Brentani A, Kaselitz E, Heisler M. Challenges facing community health workers in Brazil’s family health strategy: a qualitative study. Int J Health Plan Managt. 2018;33:309–320.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Azcona G, Bhatt A, Encarnacion J, Plazaola-Castaño J, Seck P, Staab S, et al. From insights to action: gender equality in the wake of COVID-19. United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. 2020.
   Google Scholar
• Zulu J, Perry H. Community health workers at the dawn of a new era. Health Res Policy Syst. 2021;19. DOI:10.1186/s12961-021-00761-7
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Hodgins S, Kok M, Musoke D, Lewin S, Crigler L, LeBan K, et al. Community health workers at the dawn of a new era: 1. Introduction: tensions confronting large-scale CHW programmes. Health Res Policy Syst. 2021;19. DOI:10.1186/s12961-021-00752-8.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Paez A. Gray literature: an important resource in systematic reviews. J Evid‐based Med. 2017;10:233–240.
   PubMedGoogle Scholar