case study

Study Design: Cross sectional qualitative study

Population: Health care workers in six districts of Gaza Province, members of occupational health screening teams and district, provincial and national health officials.

Sample size & Sampling: 66 healthcare workers, 11 members of the screening teams and 9 government officials were purposively sampled for individual interviews.

Key Results: The project aligned strongly with health worker needs and MISAU priorities, earning praise from national and provincial authorities as a “game changer” for occupational health. High participation (79% coverage), appreciation for confidentiality and mental health services, and new epidemiological data were the project successes.  National and provincial stakeholders, reported that continuation and nationwide scale-up require a more affordable model, and a key recommendation for the project was to engage in sustainability planning earlier than originally planned.

Study Successes: Implemented an in-person and remote data collection model allowing for data collection in remote health facilities, offering a high district coverage and value for money.  Piloted a level of effort tool to assess project costs and staff level of effort by project objective to assess the efficiency of the project. 

Lessons Learned: Healthcare workers can be successfully interviewed remotely.  The appreciation of the mental health component of the project was a surprise to the project implementors and emphasizes the importance of mental health support for healthcare workers.