TRAINING NEEDS ASSESSMENT OF STAKEHOLDERS IN THE HEALTH INSURANCE INDUSTRY IN SOUTHWEST REGION OF NIGERIA: IMPLICATIONS FOR UNIVERSAL HEALTH COVERAGE.

Background: The coverage of the social health insurance scheme in Nigeria has been low. The scheme may benefit from personnel training which has been shown to improve organisational performance.

Objective: This study, therefore, aimed to assess the training needs of personnel in the health insurance industry in Southwest Nigeria.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional survey conducted among personnel of the health insurance industry in Southwest of Nigeria. The survey tool adapted was the Hennessy-Hicks Training Needs Analysis Questionnaire. The tool has been psychometrically tested for validity and reliability. Originally, the tool has 30 items with an allowance for modification without compromising its psychometric properties. The 30 items were grouped into six superordinate categories; management/supervisory, administration, clinical/service delivery assessment, communication/ teamwork, facility financial audit/assessment, and facility infrastructure assessments. Respondents rated each item along two seven-point scales. In the first scale, respondents rated how important (importance rating) the item is to their job while in the second scale, respondents self-rated their current performance level of the item (performance rating). A training need index was generated by subtracting performance rating from the importance rating for each of the six superordinate categories.

Results: Training needs for each of the six subcategories ranked by the magnitude of the derived training need index (from highest to lowest) were; clinical/service delivery, facility infrastructure, facility financial audit, management/supervisory skills, communication, and teamwork, and administration.

Conclusion: Training need was demonstrated in all six subcategories. Emphasis on the relevant training need of personnel in the health insurance industry in Nigeria is important to improve efficiency and performance.