Identifying perceived barriers to monitoring service quality among substance abuse treatment providers in South Africa
Date
2014-02-05
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
BioMed Central
Abstract
Background: A performance measurement system is planned for South African substance abuse treatment
services. Provider-level barriers to implementing these systems have been identified in the United States, but little is
known about the nature of these barriers in South Africa. This study explored the willingness of South African
substance abuse treatment providers’ to adopt a performance measurement system and perceived barriers to
monitoring service quality that would need to be addressed during system development.
Methods: Three focus group discussions were held with treatment providers from two of the nine provinces in
South Africa. These providers represented the diverse spread of substance abuse treatment services available in the
country. The final sample comprised 21 representatives from 12 treatment facilities: eight treatment centres in the
Western Cape and four in KwaZulu-Natal. Content analysis was used to extract core themes from these discussions.
Results: Participants identified barriers to the monitoring of service quality that included outdated modes of
collecting data, personnel who were already burdened by paperwork, lack of time to collect data, and limited skills
to analyse and interpret data. Participants recommended that developers engage with service providers in a
participatory manner to ensure that service providers are invested in the proposed performance measurement
system.
Conclusion: Findings show that substance abuse treatment providers are willing to adopt a performance
measurement system and highlight several barriers that need to be addressed during system development in order
to enhance the likelihood that this system will be successfully implemented.
Description
CITATION: Myers, B. et al. 2014. Identifying perceived barriers to monitoring service quality among substance abuse treatment providers in South Africa. BMC Psychiatry, 14:31, doi:10.1186/1471-244X-14-31.
The original publication is available at http://bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com
The original publication is available at http://bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com
Keywords
Performance -- Measurement, Substance abuse treatment facilities -- South Africa, Substance abuse treatment facilities -- South Africa -- Quality control
Citation
Myers, B. et al. 2014. Identifying perceived barriers to monitoring service quality among substance abuse treatment providers in South Africa. BMC Psychiatry, 14:31, doi:10.1186/1471-244X-14-31.