Willing but unable? Extending theory to investigate community capacity to participate in Ghana’s Community-based Health Planning and service implementation

Publication date: Available online 13 October 2018Source: Evaluation and Program PlanningAuthor(s): Roger A. Atinga, Irene Akua Agyepong, Reuben K. EsenaAbstractWhile primary health care programmes based on community participation are widely implemented in low- and middle- income settings, empirical evidence on whether and to what extent local people have the capacity to participate, support and drive such programmes scale up is scant in these countries. This paper assessed the level of community capacity to participate in one such programme – the Community-Based Health Planning and Service (CHPS) in Ghana. The capacity assessments were drawn from Chaskin (2001) theorised indicators of community capacity with modifications to include: sense of community; community members commitment; community leadership commitment; problem solving mechanisms; and access to resources. These capacity measures guided the design of an interview guide used to collect data from community informants, frontline health providers (FLP) and district health managers. Key qualitative themes were built into a questionnaire administered to households selected through systematic sampling approach. Findings showed that growing individualism, low trust in neighbours and apathetic behaviours undermined the capacity of mutual support for CHPS. The capacity to support CHPS was high in local leadership and community social mobilisation groups who often dedicated time to working with FLP to promote maternal and ...
Source: Evaluation and Program Planning - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research