Trial reportPloS one2019
Supportive supervision of close-to-community providers of health care: Findings from action research conducted in two counties in Kenya.
Trial report in PloS one, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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
11 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 29 citations in OpenAlex.
- A systematic review of the types, workload, and supervision mechanism of community health workers: lessons learned for Indonesia.BMC primary care · 2024Pooled it
- Factors influencing the performance of community health volunteers working within urban informal settlements in low- and middle-income countries: a qualitative meta-synthesis review.Human resources for health · 2021Pooled it
- Understanding the drivers of effective supportive supervision: a realist evaluation of community health worker programs in Madhya Pradesh, India.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- A Landscape Analysis of Supportive Supervisory Mechanisms in Maternal and Child Health Programs in India.Cureus · 2025Review
- Four antenatal care visits by four months of pregnancy and four vital tests for pregnant mothers: impact of a community-facility health systems strengthening intervention in Migori County, Kenya.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2024Article
- Community participation in the health system: analyzing the implementation of community health committee policies in Kenya.Primary health care research & development · 2023Article
- "We are their eyes and ears here on the ground, yet they do not appreciate us"-Factors influencing the performance of Kenyan community health volunteers working in urban informal settlements.PLOS global public health · 2023Article
- Article
- Health services supervision in a protracted crisis: a qualitative study into supportive supervision practices in South Sudan.BMC health services research · 2022Article
- Observational
- 'I know those people will be approachable and not mistreat us': a qualitative study of inspectors and private drug sellers' views on peer supervision in rural Uganda.Globalization and health · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundClose-to-community (CTC) providers of health care are a crucial workforce for delivery of high-quality and universal health coverage. There is limited evidence on the effect of training supervisors of this cadre in supportive supervision. Our study aimed to demonstrate the effects of a training intervention on the approach to and frequency of supervision of CTC providers of health care.
methodsWe conducted a context analysis in 2013 in two Kenyan counties to assess factors that influenced delivery of community health services. Supervision was identified a priority factor that needed to be addressed to improve community health services. Supervision was inadequate due to lack of supervisor capacity in supportive approaches and lack of supervision guidelines. We designed a six-day training intervention and trained 48 purposively selected CTC supervisors on the educative, administrative and supportive components of supportive supervision, problem solving and advocacy and provided them with checklists to guide supervision sessions. We administered quantitative questionnaires to supervisors to assess changes in supervision frequency before and after the training and then explored perspectives on the intervention with community health volunteers (CHVs) and their supervisors using qualitative in-depth interviews.
resultsSix months after the intervention, we observed that supervisors had shifted the supervision approach from being controlling and administrative to coaching, mentorship and problem solving. Changes in the frequency of supervision were found in Kitui only, whereby significant decreases in group supervision were met with increases in accompanied home visit supervision. Supervisors and CHVs reported the intervention was helpful and it responded to capacity gaps in supervision of CHVs.
conclusionOur intervention responded to capacity gaps in supervision and contributed to enhanced supervision capacity among supervisors. Supervisors found the curriculum acceptable and useful in improving supervision skills.
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