Compassionate Care Intervention for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health Services

The Compassionate Care intervention is a comprehensive set of solutions designed for health care providers, facility managers, mentors, and supervisors in maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) services. It provides strategies to enhance compassion and empathy in health facilities, particularly during the extended postnatal period (up to one year postpartum).

The intervention is intended to foster a compassionate health care environment, benefiting providers and clients by improving job satisfaction, client experiences, and overall service quality. The intervention includes several key components:

• Practicing Compassion Training: Equips facility leaders and staff with skills to practice compassion in the workplace with one another as well as their clients and address challenges with empathy [ English ]
• Self-care Practices: Encourages healthcare providers to prioritize their own mental health through mindfulness and relaxation techniques to prevent burnout
  • Self-Care Guide [ English | Swahili ]
  • Providers Emotional Wellness Poster [ English | Swahili ]
• Client Feedback Mechanisms: Implements an anonymous feedback tool to give clients a voice in evaluating the care they receive, fostering continuous improvement
  • Client Feedback Form [ English | Swahili ]
  • Client Feedback Reminder Poster [ English | Swahili]
  • Client Feedback Drop Box [ English | Swahili ]
• Compassion Champion of the Month: Recognizes staff who consistently demonstrate compassionate care based on client feedback, with rewards and incentives [ English ]
• Provider Self-Assessment: Enables providers to reflect on their own compassionate care practices and improve further [ English | Swahili]
• Mentorship and Supervision: Incorporates compassionate care into regular mentorship sessions, helping providers refine their skills and support each other [ English ]
• Visit Observation Assessment Form: A tool for discreetly assessing client-provider interactions during health visits to ensure compassionate care and identify areas for improvement [ English ]
• Client Rights Poster: A public declaration of clients’ rights to respectful and compassionate care, displayed prominently in health care facilities so clients can easily see what their rights are [ English | Swahili ]

In addition, Implementation Guidance for the Compassionate Care Intervention aids social and behavior change practitioners and service delivery partners in how to implement each component.