Abstract:
BACKGROUND : Despite the provision of the policy for Ward-based Primary Healthcare Outreach
Teams, which requires home-based care workers to be supported by different categories of
health professionals, home-based care workers continue to experience challenges during
service provision in the communities. Home-based care workers form an integral part of the
Ward-based Primary Healthcare Outreach Teams that form part of the streams of primary
healthcare re-engineering. The aim of the study was to explore and describe the experiences of
home-based care workers (HBCWs) when rendering services in the communities of Northern
Tshwane district in Gauteng province and Madibeng district in the North West province.
METHODS : The study design was qualitative, exploratory and descriptive. Purposive sampling
was used from the population of HBCWs in Gauteng and North West. Focus group interviews
were conducted. Tesch’s data analysis method was used. Themes and subthemes were identified
by the researcher and co-coder, and these were summarised into subjects that were interrelated.
RESULTS : Diverse experiences of participants emerged. These experiences included lack of
human and material resources, poor funding, lack of knowledge, lack of support and respect
and the need for psychological support.
CONCLUSION : There is a need for a collaborative approach amongst the National Department of
Health, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and HBCWs in patient care. Policies and
support structures should be strengthened or reformed to promote comprehensive and
integrated care to sustain HBCWs.
