To examine family planning through the community’s perception, belief system and cultural impact; in addition to identifying the determining factors for family planning uptake.

A descriptive exploratory study.

Three communities were selected from three local government areas, each in the three senatorial districts in Ekiti State.

The study was conducted among young unmarried women in the reproductive age group who were sexually active as well as married men and women in the reproductive age group who are currently living with their partners and were sexually active.

Eight focus group discussions were conducted in the community in 2019 with 28 male and 50 female participants. The audio recordings were transcribed, triangulated with notes and analysed using QSR NVivo V.8 software. Community perception, beliefs and perceptions of the utility of family planning, as well as cultural, religious and other factors determining family planning uptake were analysed.

The majority of the participants had the perception that family planning helps married couple only. There were diverse beliefs about family planning and mixed reactions with respect to the impact of culture and religion on family planning uptake. Furthermore, a number of factors were identified in determining family planning uptake—intrapersonal, interpersonal and health system factors.

The study concluded that there are varied reactions to family planning uptake due to varied perception, cultural and religious beliefs and determining factors. It was recommended that more targeted male partner engagement in campaign would boost family planning uptake.

To assess work-related stress (WRS) and associated factors among health professionals working in Ambo town governmental health facilities, in 2021.

Institution-based analytical cross-sectional study.

Institution-based analytical cross-sectional study was conducted in Ambo town from 15 July 2021 to 15 August 2021. A simple random sampling technique was used to select 420 participants. Data were collected by using structured self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive statistics was used to show the magnitude of WRS. Multivariate logistic regression was employed to identify variables that are significantly associated with WRS at 95% CI and p value

A total of 407 participants were involved in the study making the response rate 96.9%. The age of the respondents ranged from 20 to 52 with the mean age of 29 years (SD=4.8). Among all participants, 261 (64.1%) were male health professionals.

This study found that the overall prevalence of WRS was 52.33% (47.5, 57.2). Being female (adjusted OR (AOR)=1.73, 95% CI 1.06, 2.81), home-work interface (AOR=1.93, 95% CI 1.19, 3.14), job insecurity (tendency not knowing continue current job (AOR=3.22, 95% CI 1.87, 5.56) and major life events (serious injury to close relatives (AOR=3.13, 95% CI 1.68, 5.84), death of close relative (AOR=2.09, 95% CI 1.16, 3.77), being violated by other (AOR=3.10, 95% CI 1.65, 5.83) and anything else seriously upset (AOR=2.63, 95% CI 1.60, 4.32) were factors significantly associated with WRS.

The prevalence of WRS among health professionals working in Ambo town public health facilities was high as compared with other studies. Sex, job insecurity, home-work interface and occurrence of major life events were factors that positively related to WRS and make the work of health professionals stressful. Health facilities, programme managers and policy makers should consider those identified factors while designing public health interventions to reduce WRS among health professionals.

In this study, we used the information generated by community members during an intervention design process to understand the features needed for a successful community participatory intervention to improve child health.

We conducted a concurrent mixed-methods study (November 2019–March 2020) to inform the design and evaluation of a community–facility linkage participatory intervention.

Kiyawa Local Government Area (Jigawa State, Nigeria)—population of 230 000 (n=425 villages).

Qualitative data included 12 community conversations with caregivers of children under-5 (men, older and younger women; n=9 per group), 3 focus group discussions (n=10) with ward development committee members and interviews with facility heads (n=3). Quantitative data comprised household surveys (n=3464) with compound heads (n=1803) and women (n=1661).

We analysed qualitative data with thematic network analysis and the surveys with linear regression—results were triangulated in the interpretation phase. Participants identified the following areas of focus: community health education; facility infrastructure, equipment and staff improvements; raising funds to make these changes. Community involvement, cooperation and empowerment were recognised as a strategy to improve child health, and the presence of intermediate bodies (development committees) was deemed important to improve communication and solve problems between community and facility members. The survey showed functional community relations’ dynamics, with high levels of internal cohesion (78%), efficacy in solving problems together (79%) and fairness of the local leaders (82%).

Combining the results from this study and critical theories on successful participation identified community-informed features for a contextually tailored community–facility link intervention. The need to promote a more inclusive approach to future child health interventions was highlighted. In addition to health education campaigns, the relationship between community and healthcare providers needs strengthening, and development committees were identified as an essential feature for successfully linking communities and facilities for child health.

ISRCTN39213655.