HRH Global Resource Center - Coping Strategies

Assessing Health Workers' Revenues and Coping Strategies in Nigeria: A Mixed Methods Study

Mon, 07 Oct 2013 20:16:25 +0000

This study examined the coping mechanisms of health workers in the public health sector of Nasarawa and Ondo states in Nigeria to supplement their salaries and benefits; it also estimated the proportionate value of the revenues from those coping mechanisms in relation to the health workers’ official incomes. [from abstract]

Struggling and Coping to Serve: The Zambian Health Workforce as Depicted in the Public Expenditure Tracking and Quality of Service Delivery Survey

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 15:14:02 +0000

This paper reports the findings of the Zambian study pertaining to human resources for health, including issues with high staff vacancies, high rates of absenteeism and tardiness, impact on patients and the coping mechanisms health workers are employing to augment their incomes. [adapted from summary]

Valuing Health Workers in Cambodia

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:50:27 +0000

The objectives of the research are to come to a better understanding of why health workers adopt behaviours that impact negatively on patients and to look for solutions in policy and practice to improve staff motivation and morale. [from author]

Perceptions of Per Diem in the Health Sector: Evidence and Implications

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 20:08:56 +0000

This study details the perceived benefits, problems, and risks of abuse of per diems and allowances in developing countries. Drawing on 41 interviews with government and nongovernmental officials in Malawi and Uganda the report highlights how practices to maximize per diems have become a defining characteristic of many public institutions and influence how employees carry out their work. As per diems have become de facto top ups of salaries, more fundamental reform of health worker incentives and payment is also needed. [from abstract]

Getting by on Credit: How District Health Managers in Ghana Cope with the Untimely Release of Funds

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:25:15 +0000

District health systems in Africa depend largely on public funding. In many countries, not only are these funds insufficient, but they are also released in an untimely fashion, thereby creating serious cash flow problems for district health managers. This paper examines how the untimely release of public sector health funds in Ghana affects district health activities and the way district managers cope with the situation. [from abstract]

Performance of Health Workers in Ethiopia: Results from Qualitative Research

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:49:59 +0000

Insufficient attention has been paid to understanding what determines the performance of health workers and how they make labor market choices. This paper reports on findings from focus group discussions with both health workers and users of health services in Ethiopia. We describe performance problems identified by both health users and health workers participating in the focus group discussions including absenteeism and shirking, pilfering drugs and materials, informal health care provision and illicit charging, and corruption.

Vietnamese-Born Health Professionals: Negotiating Work and Life in Rural Australia

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 20:50:30 +0000

The two main objectives of this study were to examine aspects of the acculturation of overseas-born and Australian-trained health professionals in the Australian health discourse and identify key coping strategies used by them when in working in the rural context. [from abstract]

Inter-Country Comparison of Unofficial Payments: Results of a Health Sector Social Audit in the Baltic States

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 18:34:33 +0000

This article presents the results of a 2002 social audit of the health sector of three Baltic States. Comparisons were made of perceptions, attitudes and experience regarding unofficial payments in the health services of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The findings can serve as a baseline for interventions and to compare each country’s approach to health service reform in relation to unofficial payments. [adapted from abstract]

Pilfering for Survival: How Health Workers Use Access to Drugs as a Coping Strategy

Mon, 06 Aug 2007 16:51:49 +0000

Coping strategies have, in some countries, become so prevalent that it has been widely assumed that the very notion of civil services ethos has completely – and possibly irreversibly – disappeared. This paper describes the importance and the nature of pilfering of drugs by health staff in Mozambique and Cape Verde, as perceived by health professionals from these countries. Their opinions provide pointers as to how to tackle these problems. [from abstract]

Providing Health Care Under Adverse Conditions: Health Personnel Performance and Individual Coping Strategies

Fri, 13 Jul 2007 13:50:13 +0000

This resulted in a collection of papers with very different viewpoints and formats, reflecting the different professional and geographical backgrounds of the participants. First a set of papers describes the performance of health personnel in a number of countries and attempts to improve it. A second part looks more closely at the various coping strategies health care workers, medical and paramedical, clinical and managerial, actually apply to deal with difficult working and living conditions.