Effects of Beneficiary Accessibility and Family Role of Community Health Volunteers on Community Health Volunteer Performance in Health Programs in Juja Sub-County

Abstract

This study examined the combined effect of beneficiary accessibility workload and family demands of CHWs on worker performance. Undeniably, multiple constraints such as huge deficits in trained health care personnel, inadequate facilities, shortage of medical supplies and limited healthcare centers as well as low-income level among many households, access to adequate primary health care services mainly to large populations living in rural areas, is still a great challenge to developing countries. To bridge this gap, World Health Organization (WHO) recommends utilization of community health volunteers. Community health volunteers circumvent the healthcare personnel deficient especially among marginalized areas that are grappling with high maternal, neonatal and infant mortality. Community Health volunteers (CHVs), mainly drawn from the host communities, confront multiple challenges such as households’ responsibilities as well as logistical impediments. This paper therefore attempted to examine the role of accessibility of targeted beneficiaries (households) as well as demanding family roles on the performance of CHVs, in Community-Based primary Health Programs in Juja Sub County, Kiambu County. To address this cause-effect dichotomy, the lenses of social exchange theory, Herzberg’s motivational theory or two factor theory as well as Vroom’s Expectancy theory (VET), were adopted. A mixed methods research design consisting of qualitative and quantitative methods, was adopted. Open and closed ended questionnaires were administered to purposively sample 140 respondents comprising 120 community health volunteers and 10 informants from community health strategy project assistants and 10 social workers in charge of CHVs. Results revealed that family demands and accessibility to households significantly influence the performance of the Community Health Workers. This present paper contributes to community health volunteer research, and specifically to family demands and beneficiary accessibility and their relative effects on performance of community health volunteers in the primary community health preventive programs sub-sector.
Keywords: Volunteers, Health, Community, Beneficiaries, Family roles, Performance