Document Type : Original Article
Authors
Department of Health Services Management, School of Health Services Management and Infomation Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The role of citizens’ participation in the process of social, economic, and cultural
development is necessary. Institutionalizing this role is inevitable to identify priorities and also planning,
implementing, and evaluating health services. This study aimed to identify challenges ahead of
volunteers’ participation toward primary health‑care (PHC) system and providing managerial solutions.
MATERIALS AND METHOD: The study employed a qualitative research design. The data were
collected via semi‑structured interviews with key experts in the Ministry of Health, university education
and health promotion officials, education experts, health center staff, and health volunteers. Then,
a focused group discussion method was employed to provide solutions. The participants were
selected via the purposive sampling method. The qualitative data were analyzed using a thematic
analysis method.
RESULTS: The analyzed data were categorized into 6 main themes and 24 subthemes. The most
important challenges were categorized into six temporal, management, education, quality of services,
motivation, and infrastructural themes. Allocating special funds for the health volunteer program,
paying attention to the problems of the health workers, providing motivational programs, holding
regular retraining courses and providing educational software for health volunteers, holding regular
training courses for health trainers and volunteers, and supporting the health volunteer program are
among the solutions.
CONCLUSION: The present study showed that the health volunteer program in the PHC system
faces several challenges, most of which are organizational and managerial ones. Therefore, a
multifaceted approach should be used to improve the participation of health volunteers. In addition to
motivational factors, factors such as allocating proper resources, empowering trainers, and mobilizing
the community should be also considered. It seems that interaction among health system, people,
and health volunteers should be improved.
Keywords
volunteers in Iran. J Med Council Iran 2016;34:157‑62.
2. Rezakhani Moghaddam H, Allahverdipour H, Musavi S,
Shekarchi AA, Matlabi H. Why people choose to volunteer?
Women health volunteers’ activities, reasons for joining and
leaving. J Caring Sci 2019;8:241‑7.
3. Nodehi, Hadi Karimi, et al. Determining and investigating the
factors affecting community participation in provision of primary
health care. Depict Health 2019;10:84‑92.
4. Yazdi Feyzabadi V, Ansari M, Amini Rarani M, Naghibzadeh
Tahami A, Heydari A. Health team in primary health care:
facilitators and inhibitors of the effective function. Int J Med
Inform 2014;2:74‑66.
5. Damari B. Challenges and directions of public health development
in Iran from the viewpoint of provincial health deputies and
health center. J Schl Public Health Instit Public Health Res
2015;13:1‑16.
6. Kok MC, Kane SS, Tulloch O, Ormel H, Theobald S, Dieleman M,
et al. How does context influence performance of community
health workers in low‑ and middle‑income countries? Evidence
from the literature. Health Res Policy Syst 2015;13:13.
7. Nekoui Moghadam M, Khanjani N, Sepehrian R, Sharifi T.
Recruitment and retention of health volunteers in health care
centers in Kerman city in 2013: A qualitative study. J Payavard
Salamat 2017;10:379‑92.
8. Shrestha S. A conceptual model for empowerment of the female
community health volunteers in Nepal. Educ Health (Abingdon)
2003;16:318‑27.
9. Van Lerberghe W. The World Health Report 2008: Primary Health
Care: Now More than Ever. World Health Organization; 2008.
10. Mohamadi NK, Bahreini F. A review on the role of
community participation in health promotion programs. Depict Health 2019;10:310‑8.
11. Daher M. Overview of the world health report 2000 health
systems: Improving performance. J Med Liban 2001;49:22‑4.
12. Petersen PE, Kwan S. The 7th WHO global conference on health
promotion‑towards integration of oral health. Community Dent
Health 2010;27 Suppl 1:129‑36.
13. Maher D, Cometto G. Research on community‑based health
workers is needed to achieve the sustainable development goals.
Bull World Health Organ 2016;94:786.
14. Muthuri RN, Senkubuge F, Hongoro C. Determinants of
motivation among healthcare workers in the east African
community between 2009‑2019: A systematic review. In:
Healthcare. Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute 2020.
p. 164.
15. Hoodfar H. Health as a context for social and gender activism:
Female volunteer health workers in Iran. Populat Develop Rev
2010;36:487‑510.
16. Akintola O. What motivates people to volunteer? The case
of volunteer AIDS caregivers in faith‑based organizations in
KwaZulu‑Natal, South Africa. Health Policy Plann 2010;26:53‑6217.
17. Nekoui Moghadam M, Khanjani N, Sepehrian R, Sharifi T.
Recruitment and retention of health volunteers in health care
centers in Kerman city in 2013: A qualitative study. J Payavard
Salamat 2017;10:379‑92.
18. Ferreira MR, Proença T, Proença JF. Motivations which Influence
Volunteers’ Satisfaction. In: 10th International Conference of the
International Society for Third Sector Research; 2012.
19. VareillesG, PommierJ, Kane S, PictetG, MarchalB. Understanding
the motivation and performance of community health volunteers
involved in the delivery of health programmes in Kampala,
Uganda: A realist evaluation protocol. BMJ Open 2015;5:e006752.
20. Bath J, Wakerman J. Impact of community participation in primary
health care: what is the evidence?. Aust J Prim Health 2015;21:2‑8.
21. Aminizadeh M, Torabi SJ, Nourayi T, Haghdoost A, Bardsiri HS.
Prioritizing motivational and satisfactorily factors of volunteer
medical and health personnel in natural disasters. Health Emerg
Dis Quarterly 2016;1:79‑88.
22. Safari M, Bahreini F, Vafaee F, Salari M, Yousefi M, Rezaei M,
et al. Community based participatory research, a model for
health promotion. J Schl Public Health Institute Public Health
Res 2013;11:17‑28.
)