WORLD JOURNAL OF ADVANCE
HEALTHCARE RESEARCH

Endale Erko*, Misra Abdulahi, Desta Hiko, Kedir Seid, Bitiya Admassu and Morankar Sudhakar

ABSTRACT

Background: Care, Compassion and respect have always been enshrined in the value statements of the health professions. Purpose: To examine and map the evidence related to compassion, respect, and caring behavior of the health professionals in health care delivery in Sub-Saharan Africa. Data sources/ Study types: All study designs published in English language were included without specific limit to publication date. Study Selection: Titles and abstracts of identified studies were screened by two independent reviewers for assessment against the inclusion criteria. Studies that met the inclusion criteria were retrieved in full and their details imported into reference manager. The full text of selected studies were retrieved and assessed in detail against the inclusion criteria. Data extraction: All full-text articles were read and data were extracted by two reviewers. Detailed information for the included studies was charted in a standardized data extraction tool. Data synthesis: A narrative synthesis approach is used to collate, summarize, and map the literature, including a numerical count of study characteristics and thematic analysis. Results: seven eligible studies were included in this review. The concept related with compassion practice in the health care delivery is qualitatively explored in two studies in relation with HIV care. Respectful care is explored in four studies and caring is addressed only in one study. Conclusion: This review identified a limited understanding of compassion, respect and caring behaviors of the health professionals providing health services in the Sub-Saharan Africa.