Determinants of Health Workers’ Level of Motivation in a Rural Hospital in Ghana

Abstract

This study examined the level of motivation of health workers in a rural hospital in Ghana and the factors affecting it. A cross sectional survey was employed to study one hundred (100) health professionals who consented to participate in the study. The results show that on a 10-point scale where 1 represents the least level of motivation and 10 being the highest level of motivation, the average level of motivation among the multidisciplinary health team was 4.88 (48.8%) (standard deviation = 0.22). Many factors influenced health workers’ level of motivation including supervision and management style (B = 0.869, P < 0.001); pay increase/incentives (B = 0.453, P < 0.001); opportunities for personal and professional growth (B = 0.577, P < 0.001) and challenging duties (B = 0.491, P = 0.003). Finally, the study found that professionals in the multidisciplinary health team preferred equality (55.8%) and performance-based equity (61.1%) approaches to motivating staff. On the other hand, the health workers rejected the use of academic qualifications (55.8%) or seniority (70.5%) as the basis for offering motivational incentives. It is recommended that hospital managers and policy makers pay particular attention to the factors that workers deemed important in motivating them. Furthermore, approaches to motivation in the health sector should be revisited by policy makers to address the concerns of equity and equality.