BackgroundIn low- and middle-income countries, a shortage of properly trained, supervised, motivated and equitably distributed health workers often hinder the delivery of lifesaving interventions. Various health workforce bottlenecks can be addressed by tackling well-being and interpersonal relationships of health workers with their colleagues and clients. This paper uses data from the Helping Health Workers Cope (HHWC) project in a rural district of Sierra Leone to achieve three objectives. First, we describe the effect of counseling and psychosocial training on coping skills, stress levels, and provider-provider and provider-client relationships. Second, we examine whether a change in coping skills is associated with a change in relationships. Finally, we qualitatively identify key ways through which the uptake of coping skills is linked to a change in relationships.MethodsThe HHWC project was implemented from February 2012 to June 2013 in Kono district in the Eastern province of Sierra Leone, with the neighboring district of Tonkolili selected as the control site. The evaluation followed a mixed-methods approach, which included a quantitative survey, in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with health workers and clients. Mean values of the variables of interest were compared across sub-populations, and correlation analyses were performed between changes in coping skills, stress levels, and changes in relationships.ResultsOverall, the results demonstrate that the HHWC intervention had a positive effect on coping skills, stress levels and provider-provider and provider-client relationships. Furthermore, associations were observed between changes in coping skills and changes in relationships as well as changes in stress management skills and changes in relationships.ConclusionsPsychosocial education can have major impacts on health worker well-being and the quality of health care delivery. Integrating psychosocial counseling and training interventions into health worker pre-service and in-service curricula would allow the positive effects of the HHWC intervention to be scaled up across Sierra Leone and beyond. A roll out of the HHWC approach alongside health system strengthening initiatives could have major implications for improving health and chances of survival.

BackgroundIn most parts of the world, men access health services less frequently than women, and this trend is unrelated to differences in need for services. While male involvement in healthcare as partners or fathers has been extensively studied, less is known about the health-seeking behavior of men as clients themselves. This interventional research study aimed to determine how the introduction of male-friendly clinics impacted male care-seeking behavior and to describe the reasons for accessing services among men in rural Kenya.Methods and findingsWe questioned men to assess utilization and perceptions of existing health clinics, then designed and evaluated a “male clinics” intervention where dedicated male health workers were hired for one year to offer routine, free services exclusively to men within existing healthcare facilities. Results were compared between data from Male Clinics in specific health facilities, the same facilities concurrently, nearby control facilities concurrently, and intervention facilities historically.Costs of services, distance to facilities, and quality of care were the main barriers to healthcare access reported. The number of total visits was significantly higher than control groups (p<0·0001). In the intervention group, 18·6% of visits were for a checkup compared to almost none in control groups. The most common diagnoses overall were upper respiratory tract infections, malaria and injury. A major limitation of this study is the non-comparability in information captured using the Male Clinic registers compared to control registers.ConclusionsCosts and quality of services deter men from seeking healthcare. The introduction of male-friendly health services could encourage men to seek preventive care and increase service uptake.

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