Lessons learnt in recruiting schoolchildren into a large asthma case-control study in urban Uganda

Milly Namutebi,Caroline Onen,Hellen Akurut,Tonny Katongole,Barbara Apule,Mike Mukasa,Pius Tumwesige,Josephine Tumusiime,Marble Nnaluwooza,Alison Elliott,Harriet Mpairwe

doi:10.12688/wellcomeopenres.16371.1

Abstract

Schools present an excellent opportunity for research among children and adolescents. We share our experiences and lessons learnt in enrolling schoolchildren into a large asthma case-control study from schools in urban Uganda, and make recommendations for best practices. Our key lessons were as follows: working closely with the school administration and teachers was vital in gaining timely access to parents of the schoolchildren; having a meeting with parents, within their children’s school premises, was a cost-effective way of reaching a wide audience of potential research participants with our message and an opportunity to seek their participation; allowing flexibility within our processes enabled us to fit our research activities within the school schedule, and with minimal disruptions; however, obtaining informed written consent from parents of children in the boarding section of school remained a challenge. In conclusion, conducting research in schools in Uganda is feasible and may be a cost-effective way to make the most of limited resources to remedy the research and data deficiencies among school-age children in sub-Saharan Africa.

Highlights

Children are an important population for the achievement of the 2030 global sustainable development goals (SDG)[1]
89% of children aged 5–17 years are in school, according to the Uganda Statistical Bureau statistical datasets published in 20184
Key lessons learnt We provide the details of the steps taken from the time we obtained ethics approval from the relevant regulatory authorities, through study enrolment to results dissemination

Summary

Introduction

Children are an important population for the achievement of the 2030 global sustainable development goals (SDG)[1]. Schools present an excellent setting for data collection among children aged 5–17 years for research purposes and for assessing progress on SDG targets. A good understanding of the best approaches for participant recruitment, enrolment and data collection from schoolchildren attending schools in sub-Saharan Africa is essential. We share our experiences and lessons learnt in recruiting and enrolling schoolchildren into a large asthma case-control study from schools in urban Uganda, and make recommendations for best practices. Key lessons learnt We provide the details of the steps taken from the time we obtained ethics approval from the relevant regulatory authorities, through study enrolment to results dissemination. We end with the lessons we learnt and recommendations for researchers planning to conduct research within schools in Uganda and possibly other sub-Saharan countries.

Class teachers

Study team

Conclusion

UNICEF

Findings

Entebbe News