Mothers’ and health workers’ perceptions of participation in a child-friendly health initiative in rural South Africa

Abstract

Background: Primary health care clinics promote health in addition to treating illness, but are often perceived as unfriendly and frightening places for children. This research aimed to improve child-friendliness in primary health care settings in a rural, high HIV prevalence area in South Africa. Methods: As part of a larger intervention (“Amagugu” Intervention) health staff in nine primary health care clinics were trained in a child-friendliness approach. 281 enrolled mothers were invited to attend clinic with their primary school-aged children and assessed childfriendliness via structured questionnaires administered by independent assessors; a sub-group also participated in in-depth interviews. Post intervention, focus groups were conducted with 87 primary health staff to determine their experiences of providing child-friendly services. Results: Mothers rated 65% of clerks and 70% of nurses as “very friendly”. Qualitative data showed that heavy clinical loads, limited human resources and inadequate infrastructure were perceived as barriers to child-friendliness, while good clinic leadership and appropriate resources facilitated child-friendliness. Post intervention most health workers reported that child-friendly health promotion activities were reward ing. Conclusions: Providing child-friendliness train ing and support to primary health care facilities in low-resource settings is feasible, acceptable and yielded encouraging results.