Michelle Dynes

Community-level correlates of intimate partner violence against women globally: A systematic review

Intimate partner violence (IPV) against women is a problem facing women around the world, one that has implications for womens health and well-being. The relationship between communities and the occurrence of IPV is an expanding area of research. Although a large number of community characteristics have been examined in relation to IPV, the research as a whole lacks a coherent theoretical focus or perspective. In this systematic review, we provide a comprehensive synthesis of the evidence regarding the community-level correlates of IPV against women. In our review of peer-reviewed research published between January 1, 1990 and January 31, 2011, we identify key community-level correlates, detect gaps, and offer recommendations for future research. Recognizing a difference in approach between U.S. and non-U.S. based research and an over-reliance on a primarily urban, U.S.-based perspective on communities and IPV, we advocate for a global perspective that better reflects the social and economic fabric of communities around the world. Specifically, future research should focus on the most promising, but currently under-studied, community-level correlates of IPV against women, namely gender inequality, gender norms, and adapted measures of collective efficacy/social cohesion.

Improving Maternal and Newborn Health Care Delivery in Rural Amhara and Oromiya Regions of Ethiopia Through the Maternal and Newborn Health in Ethiopia Partnership

Introduction In Ethiopia, rural residence and limited access to skilled providers and health services pose challenges for maternal and newborn survival. The Maternal Health in Ethiopia Partnership (MaNHEP) developed a community-based model of maternal and newborn health focusing on birth and the early postnatal period and positioned it for scale-up. MaNHEPs 3-pronged intervention included community- and facility-based community maternal and newborn health training, continuous quality improvement, and behavior change communications. Methods Evaluation included baseline and endline surveys conducted with random samples of health extension workers, community health development agents, traditional birth attendants (TBAs), and women who gave birth the year prior to the survey; pretraining, posttraining, and postintervention clinical skills assessments conducted with health extension workers, community health development agents, and traditional birth attendants; endline surveys conducted with quality improvement teams; and a perinatal verbal autopsy study. Results There were significant improvements in the completeness of maternal and newborn health care provided by the team of health extension workers, community health development agents, and TBAs in their demonstrated capacity and confidence to provide care and a sense of being part of a maternal and newborn health care team. There were also significant improvements in womens awareness of and trust in the ability of these team members to provide maternal and newborn health care, in the completeness of care that women received, and in the use of skilled providers and health extension workers for antenatal and postnatal care. In addition, a shift occurred toward the use of providers with a higher level of skills for birth care. Successful local solutions for pregnancy identification, antenatal care registration, labor-birth notification, and postnatal follow-up were adopted across 51 project communities. The number of days between perinatal deaths increased over the duration of the project. Discussion MaNHEP was associated with more, and more complete, coverage of maternal and newborn health care and improved perinatal outcomes. The model is adaptable and potentially scalable, as indicated by the pilot test of its integration into the Ethiopian Ministry of Healths newly revised Primary Health Care Unit and Health Extension Program structures.

Home-based life saving skills in Matlab, Bangladesh: a process evaluation of a community-based maternal child health programme

OBJECTIVE to conduct and describe results from a process evaluation of home-based life saving skills (HBLSS) one year post-implementation. DESIGN a non-experimental, descriptive design was utilised employing both qualitative and quantitative techniques for data collection including: (1) key informant interviews, (2) group discussions, (3) performance testing, and (4) review of programme data. SETTING rural Matlab, Bangladesh in the sub-district of Chandpur. PARTICIPANTS 41 community health research workers (CHRW), five pregnant women, 14 support persons and four programme co-ordinators. INTERVENTION HBLSS is a family-centred approach to improving recognition of and referral for potentially life-threatening maternal and newborn complications. In June 2007, four HBLSS meetings were implemented in Matlab by 41 CHRW with all pregnant women in the study area. MEASUREMENTS (1) knowledge retention among CHRW, (2) programme coverage, and (3) strengths and challenges in HBLSS implementation. FINDINGS results revealed rapid integration of the programme into the Matlab community with nearly 4500 HBLSS contacts with 2409 pregnant women between 15 June 2007 and 31 March 2008. Over 51% of pregnant women attended all four HBLSS meetings. Knowledge testing of CHRW showed strong retention with an increase in mean scores between immediate post-training and one-year post-training (from 78.7% to 92.7% and from 77.8% to 97.7% for two different HBLSS modules). Strengths of the HBLSS programme include high satisfaction among pregnant women, dedication of CHRW to the community, and strong organisation and supervision by programme staff. Challenges include lack of involvement of men, loss of two master trainers, and limited access to comprehensive emergency obstetric care at some referral sites. KEY CONCLUSIONS the HBLSS programme was successfully implemented as a result of the high level of support and supervision by the maternal, newborn and child health staff at ICDDR,B. This evaluation highlights the value of community health workers in the fight against maternal and newborn mortality. Findings emphasise the strength of the HBLSS training approach in transferring knowledge from trainer to HBLSS guide.

The influence of perceptions of community norms on current contraceptive use among men and women in Ethiopia and Kenya

The paper uses data from Ethiopia and Kenya to examine how perceptions of community norms differentially shape contraceptive use among men and women. Women whose current number of sons is lower than their perception of the community ideal had lower odds of reporting contraceptive use, while women whose own personal ideal number of sons is lower than the community ideal had greater odds of reporting contraceptive use. Men and women in Kenya were influenced more by their perception of their social networks approval of family planning than by their own approval of family planning. Results highlight the importance of place, conceptualized as the place-specific perceptions of fertility ideals, when conducting reproductive health research. Identification of people who use contraception in the face of pervasive pronatalist community norms presents a point for future intervention.

Strengthening maternal and newborn health in rural Ethiopia: Early results from frontline health worker community maternal and newborn health training

OBJECTIVE to describe early results from the Community Maternal and Newborn Health (CMNH) training programme of the Maternal and Newborn Health in Ethiopia Partnership (MaNHEP) project. DESIGN a non-experimental, descriptive design was employed to assess training implementation. SETTING six rural districts of Amhara and Oromiya regions, Ethiopia. PARTICIPANTS 91 Health Extension Workers (HEWs) and 626 Guide Team members including Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) and volunteer Community Health Promoters (vCHPs). INTERVENTION CMNH is one aspect of a broader strategy to improve maternal and newborn health at the community level in rural areas of Ethiopia where pregnant women have limited access to health facilities. MEASUREMENTS performance testing of HEWs, TBAs, and vCHPs was conducted to assess transfer of knowledge and skills from CMNH Master Trainer level to CMNH Trainer level, and from CMNH Trainer level to CMNH Guide Team (GT) level on the topic areas of Prevent Problems before Baby is Born and Prevent Problems after Baby is Born. FINDINGS post-training performance scores were significantly higher than immediate pre-training scores for Amhara and Oromiya regions on both topic areas (p<0.001). For HEWs and GT members, respectively, average scores increased over 250% and 300% for Prevent Problems before Baby is Born, and over 300% and 400% for Prevent Problems after Baby is Born. KEY CONCLUSIONS CMNH was successful in transferring knoweldge to HEWs at the CMNH Trainer level and to Guide Team members at the community level. In order for gains to be realised and sustained, the CMNH programme will be nested within an enabling environment created through behaviour change communication to increase demand for CMNH services, emphasising evidence-based maternal and newborn care practices, teamwork among frontline health workers, and an enhanced role of HEWs in provision of safe care during pregnancy, birth, and the early postnatal period.

Knowledge and Skills Retention Among Frontline Health Workers: Community Maternal and Newborn Health Training in Rural Ethiopia

INTRODUCTION We examined the degree to which the skills and knowledge of health workers in Ethiopia were retained 18 months after initial maternal and newborn health training and sought to identify factors associated with 18-month skills assessment performance. METHODS A nonexperimental, descriptive design was employed to assess 18-month skills performance on the topics of Prevent Problems Before Baby Is Born and Prevent Problems After Baby Is Born. Assessment was conducted by project personnel who also received the maternal and newborn health training and additional training to reliably assess health worker performance. RESULTS Among the 732 health workers who participated in maternal and newborn health training in 6 rural districts of the Amhara and Oromia regions of Ethiopia (including pretesting before training and a posttraining posttest), 75 health extension workers (78%) and 234 guide team members (37%) participated in 18-month posttest. Among health extension workers in both regions, strong knowledge retention was noted in 10 of 14 care steps for Prevent Problems Before Baby Is Born and in 14 of 16 care steps of Prevent Problems After Baby Is Born. Lower knowledge retention was observed among guide team members in the Amhara region. Across regions, health workers scored lowest on steps that involved nonaction (eg, do not give oxytocin). Educational attainment and age were among the few variables found to significantly predict test performance, although participants varied substantially by other sociodemographic characteristics. DISCUSSION Results demonstrated an overall strong retention of knowledge and skills among health extension workers and highlighted the need for improvement among some guide team members. Refresher training and development of strategies to improve knowledge of retention of low-performing steps were recommended.

Factors Shaping Interactions Among Community Health Workers in Rural Ethiopia: Rethinking Workplace Trust and Teamwork

INTRODUCTION Worldwide, a shortage of skilled health workers has prompted a shift toward community-based health workers taking on greater responsibility in the provision of select maternal and newborn health services. Research in mid- and high-income settings suggests that coworker collaboration increases productivity and performance. A major gap in this research, however, is the exploration of factors that influence teamwork among diverse community health worker cadres in rural, low-resource settings. The purpose of this study is to examine how sociodemographic and structural factors shape teamwork among community-based maternal and newborn health workers in Ethiopia. METHODS A cross-sectional survey was conducted with health extension workers, community health development agents, and traditional birth attendants in 3 districts of the West Gojam Zone in the Amhara region of Ethiopia. Communities were randomly selected from Maternal and Newborn Health in Ethiopia Partnership (MaNHEP) sites; health worker participants were recruited using a snowball sampling strategy. Fractional logit modeling and average marginal effects analyses were carried out to identify the influential factors for frequency of work interactions with each cadre. RESULTS One hundred and ninety-four health workers participated in the study. A core set of factors-trust in coworkers, gender, and cadre-were influential for teamwork across groups. Greater geographic distance and perception of self-interested motivations were barriers to interactions with health extension workers, while greater food insecurity (a proxy for wealth) was associated with increased interactions with traditional birth attendants. DISCUSSION Interventions that promote trust and gender sensitivity and improve perceptions of health worker motivations may help bridge the gap in health services delivery between low- and high-resource settings. Inter-cadre training may be one mechanism to increase trust and respect among diverse health workers, thereby increasing collaboration. Large-scale, longitudinal research is needed to understand how changes in trust, gender norms, and perceptions of motivations influence teamwork over time.

A network study exploring factors that promote or erode interaction among diverse community health workers in rural Ethiopia

Task shifting in response to the health workforce shortage has resulted in community-based health workers taking on increasing responsibility. Community health workers are expected to work collaboratively, though they are often a heterogeneous group with a wide range of training and experience. Interpersonal relationships are at the very core of effective teamwork, yet relational variables have seldom been the focus of health systems research in low resource, rural settings. This article helps fill this knowledge gap by exploring the dyadic level, or relational, characteristics of community maternal and newborn health workers and the individual and collective influence of these characteristics on interaction patterns. Network data were collected from community health workers (N = 194) in seven rural kebeles of Amhara region, Ethiopia from November 2011 to January 2012. Multiple Regression Quadratic Assignment Procedure was used to fit regression models for frequency of work interactions, a proxy for teamwork. Strong and consistent evidence was found in support of Trust and Past training together as important relational factors for work interactions; less consistent evidence was found across sites in support of Homophily, Distance and Shared motivations. Our findings also point to a typology of network structure across sites, where one set of networks was characterized by denser and stronger health worker ties relative to their counterparts. Our results suggest that the development of interventions that promote trust and incorporate cross-cadre training is an important step in encouraging collective action. Moreover, assessing the structure of health worker networks may be an effective means of evaluating health systems strengthening efforts in rural, low-resource settings.