{"title":"Improving the Quality of Adolescent and Youth-Friendly Health Services Through Integrated Supportive Supervision in Four Nigerian States.","authors":"Dorcas Akila, Akinola Oluwasegun, Krishna Bose, Olukunle Omotoso, Adewale Adefila, Lisa Mwaikambo","doi":"10.9745/GHSP-D-22-00169","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Although the unique sexual and reproductive health needs of adolescents and youth (AY) are widely recognized, the challenge remains how to integrate adolescent- and youth-friendly health services (AYFHS) effectively within a systems-based approach that is both feasible and scalable. This article provides preliminary evidence from 4 Nigerian states that sought to overcome this challenge by implementing capacity-strengthening approaches centered around a shortened quality assurance (QA) tool that has become part of the state health system's routine supportive supervision process and follow-up quality improvement (QI) activities.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A shortened QA tool was administered to assess and track the performance of 130 high-volume health facilities across 5 domains to serve its AY population with quality contraceptive services. Facility-based providers (N=198) received training on adolescent and youth sexual and reproductive health, AYFHS, and long-acting reversible contraceptive methods. To corroborate checklist findings, we conducted exit interviews with 754 clients (aged 15-24 years) who accessed contraceptive services from the facilities that met the World Health Organization's minimum standards for quality AYFHS.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>In the 4 states, the QA tool was applied at baseline and 2 rounds, accompanied by QI capacity strengthening after each round. At baseline, only 12% of the 130 facilities in the 4 states scored met the minimum quality standards for AYFHS. After 2 rounds, 88% of the facilities met the minimum standards. AY client volume increased over this same period. All 4 states showed great improvements; however, the achievements varied by state. The exit interview feedback supported client satisfaction with the services provided to AY.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Integrating QA followed by QI within Nigeria's family planning supportive supervision system is not only feasible but also impacts the quality of AYFHS and contraceptive uptake by clients aged 15-24 years.</p>","PeriodicalId":12692,"journal":{"name":"Global Health: Science and Practice","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5000,"publicationDate":"2024-05-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11111107/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Global Health: Science and Practice","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.9745/GHSP-D-22-00169","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Although the unique sexual and reproductive health needs of adolescents and youth (AY) are widely recognized, the challenge remains how to integrate adolescent- and youth-friendly health services (AYFHS) effectively within a systems-based approach that is both feasible and scalable. This article provides preliminary evidence from 4 Nigerian states that sought to overcome this challenge by implementing capacity-strengthening approaches centered around a shortened quality assurance (QA) tool that has become part of the state health system's routine supportive supervision process and follow-up quality improvement (QI) activities.
Methods: A shortened QA tool was administered to assess and track the performance of 130 high-volume health facilities across 5 domains to serve its AY population with quality contraceptive services. Facility-based providers (N=198) received training on adolescent and youth sexual and reproductive health, AYFHS, and long-acting reversible contraceptive methods. To corroborate checklist findings, we conducted exit interviews with 754 clients (aged 15-24 years) who accessed contraceptive services from the facilities that met the World Health Organization's minimum standards for quality AYFHS.
Results: In the 4 states, the QA tool was applied at baseline and 2 rounds, accompanied by QI capacity strengthening after each round. At baseline, only 12% of the 130 facilities in the 4 states scored met the minimum quality standards for AYFHS. After 2 rounds, 88% of the facilities met the minimum standards. AY client volume increased over this same period. All 4 states showed great improvements; however, the achievements varied by state. The exit interview feedback supported client satisfaction with the services provided to AY.
Conclusion: Integrating QA followed by QI within Nigeria's family planning supportive supervision system is not only feasible but also impacts the quality of AYFHS and contraceptive uptake by clients aged 15-24 years.
期刊介绍:
Global Health: Science and Practice (GHSP) is a no-fee, open-access, peer-reviewed, online journal aimed to improve health practice, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Our goal is to reach those who design, implement, manage, evaluate, and otherwise support health programs. We are especially interested in advancing knowledge on practical program implementation issues, with information on what programs entail and how they are implemented. GHSP is currently indexed in PubMed, PubMed Central, POPLINE, EBSCO, SCOPUS,. the Web of Science Emerging Sources Citation Index, and the USAID Development Experience Clearinghouse (DEC).
TOPICS:
Issued four times a year, GHSP will include articles on all global health topics, covering diverse programming models and a wide range of cross-cutting issues that impact and support health systems. Examples include but are not limited to:
Health:
Addiction and harm reduction,
Child Health,
Communicable and Emerging Diseases,
Disaster Preparedness and Response,
Environmental Health,
Family Planning/Reproductive Health,
HIV/AIDS,
Malaria,
Maternal Health,
Neglected Tropical Diseases,
Non-Communicable Diseases/Injuries,
Nutrition,
Tuberculosis,
Water and Sanitation.
Cross-Cutting Issues:
Epidemiology,
Gender,
Health Communication/Healthy Behavior,
Health Policy and Advocacy,
Health Systems,
Human Resources/Training,
Knowledge Management,
Logistics and Supply Chain Management,
Management and Governance,
mHealth/eHealth/digital health,
Monitoring and Evaluation,
Scale Up,
Youth.