Job motivation and associated factors among health workers providing maternal and child health services in Wolaita Zone public hospitals, Southern Ethiopia; A mixed-method study

Background: The quality of services provided to women, and children is significantly impacted by a lack of motivation and a shortage of competent healthcare staff.Low motivation has a negative impact on the performance of individual healthcare institutions, health workers, patient safety, and the health system as a whole. Objectives: To assess job motivation and associated factors among health workers providing maternal and child health services in Wolaita Zone public hospitals, Southern Ethiopia, 2023. Methodology: A facility-based cross-sectional mixed-method study was conducted on randomly selected 319 maternal and child health service providers followed by a purposive sampling technique for the qualitative study. A pretested, structured, self-administered questionnaire obtained from previously conducted studies and in-depth interviews were used to collect quantitative and qualitative studies, respectively. EpiDataV4.6 and Statistical Package for Social Science version 26 were used for quantitative data entry and analysis, respectively, and both bivariable and multivariable logistic regression were done. For qualitative data, OpenCode 4.03 software was utilized to conduct thematic content analysis. Result: A total of 319 maternal and child health service providers participated in this study, with a 100% response rate. Of them, 142 (44.5%) (95%, CI: 39% - 50%) were motivated. Female gender, payment other than salary not paid on time [AOR (95% CI) 0.159 (0.046–0.549)], work overload[AOR (95% CI) 0.264 (0.083–0.836)], shortage of resources[AOR (95% CI) 0.385 (0.172–0.860)], limited training opportunities[AOR (95% CI) 0.104 (0.030–0.356)], and poor management and leadership of the organizations were statistically significant association between provider’s job motivations. Conclusion: In this study, nearly forty-five percent of maternal and child health service providers weremotivated. Female gender,payment other than salary not paid on time, work overload, shortage of resources, limited training opportunities, and poor management and leadership of the organizations were significantly associated with providers’ job motivation.Therefore, timely paid other benefitpayments, accessing training opportunities, implementing work force strategy, and availing of resources are very important actions that should be taken.