‘I know those people will be approachable and not mistreat us’: a qualitative study of inspectors and private drug sellers’ views on peer supervision in rural Uganda

Abstract

Peer supervision improves health care delivery by health workers. However, in rural Uganda, self supervision is what is prescribed for licensed private drug sellers by statutory guidelines. Evidence shows that self-supervision encourages inappropriate treatment of children less than ve years of age by private drug sellers. This study constructed a model for an appropriate peer supervisor to augment the self supervision currently practiced by drug sellers at district level in rural Uganda. In this qualitative study, six Key informant interviews were held with inspectors while ten focus group discussions were conducted with one hundred and thirty drug sellers. Data analysis was informed by the Kathy Charmaz constructive approach to grounded theory. Atlas ti.7 software package was used for data management.