ArticleGlobal health action2015
Needs assessment for home-based care and the strengthening of social support networks: the role of community care workers in rural South Africa.
Article in Global health action, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Who is a community health worker? - a systematic review of definitions.Global health action · 2017Pooled it
- Assessing training needs and influencing factors among personnel at centers for disease control and prevention in northeast China: a cross-sectional study framed by SDT and TPB using machine learning techniques.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Faith, fear, and disclosure: Exploring serodiscordant relationships in Indonesia's Muslim society.Belitung nursing journal · 2025Article
- To what extent do home care nurses feel free to assess the care that is needed for their patients? A nationwide survey in the Netherlands.Health science reports · 2021Article
- Community health workers at the dawn of a new era: 5. Roles and tasks.Health research policy and systems · 2021Review
- Barriers and facilitators in the implementation of bio-psychosocial care at the primary healthcare level in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo.African journal of primary health care & family medicine · 2021Article
- Community health workers impact on maternal and child health outcomes in rural South Africa - a non-randomized two-group comparison study.BMC public health · 2020Article
- Fidelity of HIV programme implementation by community health workers in rural Mopani district, South Africa: a community survey.BMC public health · 2018Article
- Benefits of health reform for households in rural South Africa following implementation of ward-based primary healthcare outreach teams: a qualitative inquiry.Global health action · 2018Article
- The perceived role of ward-based primary healthcare outreach teams in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.African journal of primary health care & family medicine · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundCommunity care workers (CCWs) in rural South Africa provide medical, personal, household, educational, and social care services to their clients. However, little understanding exists on how provision of services is approached within a household, taking into account available social support networks.
objectiveThe aim of this study was to generate an understanding of the processes that underpin the provision of care by CCWs in rural households and their engagement with clients, primary caregivers (PCGs), and other members of the social support network.
designWe analysed in-depth interviews conducted in a triad of participants involved in a home-based care (HBC) encounter - 32 clients, 32 PCGs, and 17 CCWs. For each triad, a purposefully selected CCW was linked with a purposefully selected client and the corresponding PCG using maximum variation sampling. Three coders used an inductive content analysis method to describe participants' references to the nuances of processes followed by CCWs in servicing HBC clients. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants.
findingsThe results suggest that, by intuition and prior knowledge, CCWs treated each household uniquely, depending on the clients' care needs, cooperation, availability of a social network, and the reliability and resilience of the social support system for the client. Four distinct processes took place in rural households: needs assessment for care, rationing of care, appraisal of care, and reinforcement of a social support system. However, there was no particular order or sequence established for these processes, and caregivers followed no prescribed or shared standards.
conclusionsCCWs bring a basket of services to a household, but engage in a constant, dynamic, and cyclical process of weighing needs against services provided. The service package is uniquely crafted and tailored for each household, depending on the absorptive capacity of the social support network available to the client, and preferences of the clients remain central to the process of negotiating care.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.