Work Team Stability and Quality of Health Care in Uganda: Evidence from Health Centre IVs in South Western Uganda
Abstract
This study investigated the relationship between work team stability and quality of health care in Health Centre IVs in South Western Uganda. The study employed a cross-sectional mixed-methods design. Data were collected from healthcare workers in selected Health Centre IVs using questionnaires, key informant interviews, and document reviews. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and regression analysis, whereas qualitative data were analyzed thematically. The results indicated a positive and statistically significant relationship between work team stability and quality of health care (r = 0.440, p < 0.01). Regression analysis further showed that work team stability significantly predicted quality of health care (? = 0.352, p = 0.003), accounting for 19.4% of the observed variation in quality of health care (R² = 0.194). The study contributes empirical evidence on the relationship between work team stability and quality of health care in public Health Centre IV facilities in Uganda. It demonstrates that workforce stability is an important organizational factor associated with improved health care quality and provides context-specific evidence to support workforce management and health policy interventions in Uganda.
Downloads
References
Apiyo, R. O., Nuwamanya, E., & Mugisha, J. (2022). Workforce challenges and service delivery in public health facilities in Uganda. African Health Sciences, 22(3), 112–121.
Bae, P. B., & Mark, B. A. (2021). The impact of leadership on healthcare quality and patient outcomes. Journal of Healthcare Management, 66(3), 158–170.
Blumenthal, D., Fowler, E. J., Abrams, M., & Collins, S. R. (2020). Health care system challenges and reforms. New England Journal of Medicine, 382(10), 903–914.
Bowen, G. A. (2009). Document analysis as a qualitative research method. Qualitative Research Journal, 9(2), 27–40.
Bryman, A. (2016). Social research methods (5th ed.). Oxford University Press.
Edmondson, A. C., & Lei, Z. (2020). Psychological safety: The history, renaissance, and future of an interpersonal construct. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 7, 23–43.
Flick, U. (2018). An introduction to qualitative research (6th ed.). Sage Publications.
Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., & Anderson, R. E. (2019). Multivariate data analysis (8th ed.). Cengage Learning.
Hategeka, C., Ruton, H., & Law, M. R. (2020). Effect of a performance-based financing intervention on the quality of care in Rwanda. BMC Health Services Research, 20(1), 1–10.
Ilgen DR, Hollenbeck JR, Johnson M, Jundt D. Teams in organizations: from input-process-output models to IMOI models. Annu Rev Psychol. 2005;56:517-43. doi: 10.1146/annurev.psych.56.091103.070250. PMID: 15709945.
Israel, M., & Hay, I. (2006). Research ethics for social scientists. Sage Publications.
Jha, A. K., Orav, E. J., & Epstein, A. M. (2021). Quality of healthcare delivery and patient outcomes. The Lancet, 397(10289), 1915–1923.
Johnson, R. B., & Onwuegbuzie, A. J. (2004). Mixed methods research: A research paradigm. Educational Researcher, 33(7), 14–26.
Kabunga, N. S., Mugisha, J., & Nuwamanya, E. (2024). Organisational factors and service delivery in public health facilities in Uganda. African Journal of Health Sciences, 37(2), 45–58.
Kothari, C. R. (2004). Research methodology: Methods and techniques (2nd ed.). New Age International.
Krejcie, R.V. and Morgan, D.W. (1970) Determining Sample Size for Research Activities. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 30, 607-610.
Kruk, M. E., Gage, A. D., Arsenault, C., Jordan, K., Leslie, H. H., Roder-DeWan, S., & Pate, M. (2018). High-quality health systems in the Sustainable Development Goals era. The Lancet Global Health, 6(11), e1196–e1252.
Leape, L. L., Berwick, D. M., & Bates, D. W. (2020). Patient safety and healthcare quality improvement. New England Journal of Medicine, 382(11), 1012–1019.
Leatherman, S. (2020). Global approaches to healthcare quality improvement. International Journal for Quality in Health Care, 32(1), 1–7.
Mathieu, J. E., Gallagher, P. T., Domingo, M. A., & Klock, E. A. (2020). Embracing complexity: Reviewing the past decade of team effectiveness research. Journal of Applied Psychology, 105(12), 1355–1390.
Matovu, J. K. B., Ssebadduka, B. N., & Kintu, A. (2022). Quality of health care and patient satisfaction in Uganda. BMC Health Services Research, 22(1), 1–10.
McHugh, M. D., & Aiken, L. H. (2022). Healthcare staffing levels and quality of care. Health Services Research, 57(2), 345–356.
Ministry of Health, Uganda. (2023). Annual health sector performance report. Ministry of Health, Uganda.
Ministry of Health, Uganda. (2024). Health facility service delivery report. Ministry of Health, Uganda.
Pallant, J. (2020). SPSS survival manual (7th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.
Patton, M. Q. (2015). Qualitative research and evaluation methods (4th ed.). Sage Publications.
Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., Lee, J. Y., & Podsakoff, N. P. (2003). Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(5), 879–903. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.88.5.879.
Rosen, M. A., DiazGranados, D., Dietz, A. S., Benishek, L. E., Thompson, D., Pronovost, P. J., & Weaver, S. J. (2018). Teamwork in healthcare: Key discoveries and future directions. BMJ Quality & Safety, 27(3), 183–193.
Salas, E., Reyes, D. L., & McDaniel, S. H. (2018). The science of teamwork in healthcare. American Psychologist, 73(4), 593–600.
Tashakkori, A., & Teddlie, C. (2010). Mixed methodology: Combining qualitative and quantitative approaches. Sage Publications.
Uganda Bureau of Statistics & ICF. (2022). Uganda demographic and health survey 2022. UBOS.
Waweru, E., Goodman, C., Kedenge, S., Tsofa, B., & Molyneux, S. (2020). Tracking health system performance in Kenya. Health Policy and Planning, 35(6), 684–695.
Weller, J. (2024). Teamwork and communication in healthcare systems. Medical Journal of Australia, 220(2), 75–80.
World Health Organization. (2021). Quality of care in health services. WHO.
Copyright (c) 2026 Sephas Bangirana, Dr. Rennie Bakashaba, Prof. Edgar Mugema Mulogo , Dr. Benjamin Musiita
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Author (s) should affirm that the material has not been published previously. It has not been submitted and it is not under consideration by any other journal. At the same time author (s) need to execute a publication permission agreement to assume the responsibility of the submitted content and any omissions and errors therein. After submission of a revised paper in the light of suggestions of the reviewers, editorial team edits and formats manuscripts to bring uniformity and standardization in published material.
This work will be licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) and under condition of the license, users are free to read, copy, remix, transform, redistribute, download, print, search or link to the full texts of articles and even build upon their work as long as they credit the author for the original work. Moreover, as per journal policy author (s) hold and retain copyrights without any restrictions.
