Why do people become health workers? Analysis from life histories in 4 post-conflict and post-crisis countries.

Witter, Sophie, Wurie, Haja, Namakula, Justine, Mashange, Wilson, Chirwa, Yotamu and Alonso-Garbayo, Alvaro (2018) 'Why do people become health workers? Analysis from life histories in 4 post-conflict and post-crisis countries.'. The International Journal of Health Planning and Management, Vol 33, Issue 2, pp. 449-459.

Preview

Text The_International_Journal_of_Health_Planning_and_Management_Witter_et_al-2018.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (122kB) | Preview

Abstract

While there is a growing body of literature on how to attract and retain health workers once they are trained, there is much less published on what motivates people to train as health professions in the first place in low- and middle-income countries and what difference this makes to later retention. In this article, we examine patterns in expressed motivation to join the profession across different cadres, based on 103 life history interviews conducted in northern Uganda, Sierra Leone, Cambodia, and Zimbabwe. A rich mix of reported motivations for joining the profession was revealed, including strong influence of "personal calling," exhortations of family and friends, early experiences, and chance factors. Desire for social status and high respect for health professionals were also significant. Economic factors are also important-not just perceptions of future salaries and job security but also more immediate ones, such as low cost or free training. These allowed low-income participants to access the health professions, to which they had shown considerably loyalty. The lessons learned from these cohorts, which had remained in service through periods of conflict and crisis, can influence recruitment and training policies in similar contexts to ensure a resilient health workforce. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.]

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	W General Medicine. Health Professions > W 21.5 Allied health personnel. Allied health professions W General Medicine. Health Professions > W 21 Medicine as a profession. 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 WY Nursing > WY 106 Community health nursing
Faculty: Department:	Clinical Sciences & International Health > International Public Health Department
Digital Object Identifer (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1002/hpm.2485
SWORD Depositor:	JISC Pubrouter
Depositing User:	Stacy Murtagh
Date Deposited:	29 Jan 2018 14:10
Last Modified:	20 Jul 2018 10:40
URI:	https://archive.lstmed.ac.uk/id/eprint/8132

Statistics

View details

Actions (login required)

Edit Item