The Effect of Community Health Planning on public health centers` organizational performance

Abstract

Community Health Planning has been used in public health centers for over 10 years, but little is known about its effect and how it is utilized by public health centers. This paper examines the effect of Community Health Planning on public health centers`organizational performance through the use of the Structural Equation Modeling(SEM) technique. We conducted e-mail surveys of chiefs, people in charge of planning and other staff members in all the public health centers in the country. The instrument measured self-evaluated levels of Community Health Planning, implementation and the effect on the public health centers. The model of the SEM technique has five latent constructs: requirements of planning, plan formulation, implementation, organizational capacity and performance. The SEM technique validated the instrument used in the study and exhibited a relatively good fit. Results of this study were as follows. First, the requirements of planning have positive effects on plan formulation. Second, plan formulation has positive effects on organizational capacity but plan implementation doesn`t. Third, there was no statistically significant path between plan formulation, implementation and performance. Fourth, organizational capacity has positive effects on performance. Consequently, this study revealed that Community Health Planning has a positive influence on organizational performance through organizational capacity.