Gebreegziabher Ewunetu Aberra, Astawesegn Feleke Hailemichael, Anjulo Antehun Alemayehu, Kerie Mirkuzie Woldie
Kellem Wollega Zonal Health Department, Dembidolo, Ethiopia.
School of Public Health, College of Health sciences and Medicine, Wolaita Sodo University, Wolaita Sodo, Ethiopia.
BMC Health Serv Res. 2017 Mar 14;17(1):195. doi: 10.1186/s12913-017-2129-z.
Ethiopia has been deploying specially trained new cadres of community based health workers in urban areas of the country known as urban health extension professionals since 2009. At present, relatively little work has focused on understanding to what extent this new program is accepted and used by the community.
Both qualitative and quantitative surveys were performed from March 10, 2012 to March 25, 2012 to explore the utilization of urban health extension services in Bishoftu Town, Oromia regional state, Central Ethiopia using a cross sectional study design. Qualitative data were collected using a total of 4 focus group discussions and 26 in-depth interviews. Quantitative data were collected from 418 randomly selected households using pre-tested, structured, interviewer-administered questionnaires. Data entry and analysis were done using SPSS version 16.0. Qualitative data were analyzed thematically.
Of the 418 interviewed households, 72.8% of them had at least one service related contact with urban health extension professionals in the previous 6 month. The mean frequency of service related contact with Urban Health Extension Professionals was found to be 2.24 (±1) contacts per 6 months. The total number of households graduated as a model family in the study area was 3974 (14.3%). Though participants felt that urban health extension professionals faced community resistance at program implementation, its acceptability greatly improved in this study. Despite this, individual competencies of urban health extension professionals, availability of supply and logistic system, and the level of support from kebele officials were reported to influence the program acceptability and utilization.
The introduction of urban health extension professionals positively changed the attitude of the majority of the households involved and improved the acceptability of the program. All stake holders, governmental and nongovernmental organizations, should have supportive systems to increase the acceptability and utilization of urban health extension services.
自2009年以来，埃塞俄比亚一直在该国城市地区部署经过专门培训的新型社区卫生工作者干部，即城市卫生推广专业人员。目前，相对较少的工作集中在了解这个新项目在多大程度上被社区接受和使用。
2012年3月10日至2012年3月25日进行了定性和定量调查，采用横断面研究设计，以探索埃塞俄比亚中部奥罗米亚州比绍夫图镇城市卫生推广服务的利用情况。定性数据通过总共4次焦点小组讨论和26次深入访谈收集。定量数据通过预先测试的、结构化的、由访谈员管理的问卷从418个随机选择的家庭中收集。数据录入和分析使用SPSS 16.0版完成。定性数据进行了主题分析。
在418个受访家庭中，72.8% 的家庭在过去6个月中至少有一次与城市卫生推广专业人员的服务相关接触。与城市卫生推广专业人员的服务相关接触的平均频率为每6个月2.24（±1）次接触。研究区域内毕业成为示范家庭的家庭总数为3974户（14.3%）。尽管参与者认为城市卫生推广专业人员在项目实施过程中面临社区阻力，但在本研究中其可接受性有了很大提高。尽管如此，据报告城市卫生推广专业人员的个人能力、供应和后勤系统的可用性以及凯贝勒官员提供的支持水平会影响项目的可接受性和利用率。
城市卫生推广专业人员的引入积极改变了大多数参与家庭的态度，并提高了该项目的可接受性。所有利益相关者，包括政府和非政府组织，都应建立支持系统，以提高城市卫生推广服务的可接受性和利用率。
