Table 2 Distribution of research participants

1. Individual interviews

Service providers

3

Chairperson of a community health committee

Criterion sampling

To get an insight into how they understand community participation and facilitated the programme accordingly.

CHPS senior official

(8-13 April, 2011)

Community health worker

Community health committee members

2

Community members involved in the local community health committee and at the interface between service providers and users.

Criterion sampling

To understand what community health committee members, who played a dual role, both as implementers of the CHPS programme and as beneficiaries, felt about their level of involvement.

Community members (service users)

12

Community members making use of health services

Convenience sampling

As the programme was meant to involve the wider community, community members and service users were interviewed in order to examine their level of involvement in the programme.

2. Focus group discussions

Mix of female stakeholders

8

Service providers (0)

Criterion sampling

The focus group discussions were arranged to stimulate debate and develop responses as informants re-call and add to the answers of peers within the group

Community health committee members (2)

(14th April 2011)

Service users (6)

Convenience sampling

Mix of male stakeholders

9

Service providers (1)

Criterion sampling

Community health committee members (2)

Service users (6)

Convenience sampling

3. Community conversation

All study participants

16

Service providers (1)

Criterion sampling

To bring local stakeholders together to discuss and develop a spider-gram assessing community participation in the CHPS programme

(14^th April, 2011)

Community health committee members (2)

Service users (6)

Convenience sampling