title: Gaps and gains from engaging districts stakeholders for community-based health professions education in Uganda: a qualitative study.
abstract: Community-based education research and service (COBERS) is a brand of community-based education that has been adopted by the Medical Education and Service for All Ugandans consortium. The COBERS programme is aimed at equipping students in health professional education with the knowledge, attitudes and skills required to provide appropriate health care services. For sustainability purposes, the health professional training institutions have made efforts to involve various stakeholders in the implementation of the programme. However, the actual engagement process and outcome of such efforts have not been documented. This paper documents gaps and gains made in engaging district stakeholders for community-based education. Key informant interviews, focus group discussions and document review were used to collect data. Atlas.ti, computer software for qualitative data was used to aid analysis. The analysis revealed that the adopted engagement model has registered some gains including increased awareness among district leaders about potential opportunities offered by COBERS such as boosting of human resources at health facilities, opportunities for professional development for health care workers at health facilities, and establishment of linkages between prospective employees and employers. However, the engagement model left some gaps in terms of knowledge, awareness and ownership of the programme among some sections of stakeholders. The apparent information gap about the programme among district stakeholders, especially the political leadership, may hinder concerted partnership. The findings highlight the need for health professional education institutions to broaden the scope of actively engaged stakeholders with the district level.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda. elly@chs.mak.ac.ug.
authors.forename: Elialilia S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Okello
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, School of Health Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
authors.forename: Joyce
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nankumbi
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Health, Faculty of Medicine, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Mbarara, Uganda.
authors.forename: Gad Ndaruhutse
authors.initials: GN
authors.lastname: Ruzaaza
authors.affiliation: College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
authors.forename: Evelyn
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bakengesa
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
authors.forename: Joy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gumikiriza
authors.affiliation: Department of Dental Surgery, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Mbarara, Uganda.
authors.forename: Wilfred
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Arubaku
authors.affiliation: Director, Health and Nutrition, Mbarara Emirates Investments, Mbarara, Uganda.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Acio
authors.affiliation: Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Mbarara, Uganda.
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Samantha
authors.affiliation: Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Mbarara, Uganda.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Matte
keywords: Community-based education; Stakeholder; Stakeholder engagement