Abstract:
The study concentrated on the maternal and child health activities conducted by the PHM.
The performance of the PHM was taken as the dependent variable while the personality
characteristics and work environment variables formed the independent variables. The
significant independent variables that were found to influence performance of PHMs are age
of PHM, ownership of house, number of school going children, distance to the office from
the house, the population served, the mode of transport and job satisfaction of the PHMs.
Service period in the present area, number of supervisory visits by the supervising public
health. Midwife and the husbands income had a significant linear relationship with the
performance. The motivational characteristics of the PHM as assessed by their supervising
officers, did not correlate well with the performance of the PHMs. The factors that have
been identified in this study can be made use of in selection, training and deployment of this
category of worker. The monitoring mechanism that was developed at PHM level would
from a simple management information flow that would help in the enhancement of work
performance of this category of worker by improving supervision and on the job training of
individual PHMs
