Development of Tools for Assessing the Capacity Management and Leadership of the Iranian Health System

Abstract

Abstract Introduction: Strengthening management and leadership by improving the competencies and capabilities of managers is essential to achieve the goals of the health sector. The World Health Organization (WHO) (2008) has claimed that limited ‘management capacity’ in low-income countries is one of the main obstacles to achieving health-related goals. Objective: The purpose of this study is to develop management and leadership capacity evaluation tools for Iran's health system. Materials and Methods: This multi-method research was carried out in five steps between 2018 and 2021 at Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. The first draft of the tool was introduced through a systematic review and semi-structured interviews with 20 senior health managers that had been selected through purposive sampling. Two rounds of the Delphi process were conducted with 33 invited health managers from universities and health administrative departments to develop and verify the management and leadership capacity assessment tool. Then, a pilot study was conducted to implement and determine the problems of the developed tools. Findings: According to the results of the systematic review, a total of 17 articles were included in the study. In total, 16 components were identified. According to the results of the qualitative study, five themes were obtained from the analysis: (1) Competencies required for managers. (2) Selection and appointment of directors. (3) Creating a database of managers. (4) establishing a functional support system; and (5) environmental sensitivity. The final tools consisted of 4 sections, 18 dimensions, 19 sub-dimensions, and 94 questions. Among the three assessed universities, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences earned the most points (52.6%). Conclusion: This tool is the first tool that is systematically designed to assess the management and leadership capacity of senior managers and provides the possibility of needs assessment, planning, monitoring, and comprehensively assessment regarding the four dimensions of capacity building.