The shortage of skilled healthcare workers in Sub-Saharan Africa is aggravated by their emigration to high resource countries. There is evidence that a small number of healthcare workers return to their home countries. It is important to understand the factors that influence decisions to return in order to develop appropriate strategies to attract more back. This study sought to investigate the perspectives of healthcare workers who returned to Botswana after working in the diaspora. We conducted semi-structured interviews of 8 healthcare workers. Using the thematic analysis method we developed a thematic index to code the data. The main reasons for returning were family ties and missing home whilst the key reasons for emigration were concerns about the quality of health care, lack of professional progression opportunities and feeling under-valued. Difficulties reintegrating into the Botswana health care system are a potential push factors for those who return. Policies that aim to attract back healthcare workers should address professional progression, reintegration and improvement of the healthcare system. © 2018 Motlhatlhedi, Nkomazana. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

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Health Personnel health care personnel human factor analysis Factor Analysis, Statistical middle aged Humans migrant male semi structured interview female risk factor Risk Factors Article thematic analysis adult migration health care quality Botswana Health Workforce Quality of Health Care health care system Transients and Migrants Delivery of Health Care health care delivery