A process evaluation of the scale up of a youth-friendly health services initiative in northern Tanzania

Renju, Jenny, Andrew, Bahati, Nyalali, Kija, Kishamawe, Coleman, Kato, Charles, Changalucha, John and Obasi, Angela ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6801-8889 (2010) 'A process evaluation of the scale up of a youth-friendly health services initiative in northern Tanzania'. Journal of the International AIDS Society, Vol 13, Issue 1, p. 32.

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Abstract

Background
While there are a number of examples of successful small-scale, youth-friendly services interventions aimed at improving reproductive health service provision for young people, these projects are often short term and have low coverage. In order to have a significant, long-term impact, these initiatives must be implemented over a sustained period and on a large scale. We conducted a process evaluation of the 10-fold scale up of an evaluated youth-friendly services intervention in Mwanza Region, Tanzania, in order to identify key facilitating and inhibitory factors from both user and provider perspectives.

Methods
The intervention was scaled up in two training rounds lasting six and 10 months. This process was evaluated through the triangulation of multiple methods: (i) a simulated patient study; (ii) focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews with health workers and trainers; (iii) training observations; and (iv) pre- and post-training questionnaires. These methods were used to compare pre- and post-intervention groups and assess differences between the two training rounds.

Results
Between 2004 and 2007, local government officials trained 429 health workers. The training was well implemented and over time, trainers' confidence and ability to lead sessions improved. The district-led training significantly improved knowledge relating to HIV/AIDS and puberty (RR ranged from 1.06 to 2.0), attitudes towards condoms, confidentiality and young people's right to treatment (RR range: 1.23-1.36). Intervention health units scored higher in the family planning and condom request simulated patient scenarios, but lower in the sexually transmitted infection scenario than the control health units. The scale up faced challenges in the selection and retention of trained health workers and was limited by various contextual factors and structural constraints.

Conclusions
Youth-friendly services interventions can remain well delivered, even after expansion through existing systems. The scaling-up process did affect some aspects of intervention quality, and our research supports others in emphasizing the need to train more staff (both clinical and non-clinical) per facility in order to ensure youth-friendly services delivery. Further research is needed to identify effective strategies to address structural constraints and broader social norms that hampered the scale up.

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	WA Public Health > WA 30 Socioeconomic factors in public health (General) WA Public Health > Health Problems of Special Population Groups > WA 395 Health in developing countries WC Communicable Diseases > Sexually Transmitted Diseases > WC 142 Public health control measures WC Communicable Diseases > Sexually Transmitted Diseases > WC 144 Prevention
Faculty: Department:	Clinical Sciences & International Health > International Public Health Department
Digital Object Identifer (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1186/1758-2652-13-32
Depositing User:	Helen Rigby
Date Deposited:	08 Apr 2011 13:32
Last Modified:	11 Jan 2021 12:35
URI:	https://archive.lstmed.ac.uk/id/eprint/1792

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