Abstract
Background International health projects are increasingly engaging local researchers to ensure that interventions are cost-effective and locally relevant. Yet, locating research partners in low and middle-income country settings is not always straightforward particularly when projects are inter-disciplinary, the methods unfamiliar, and the setting, new. Since July 2017, we have initiated a research partnership in North-East India and Sierra Leone to assess surgical need and health system capacity for a global surgery project. Aim Our presentation will describe our experiences identifying and engaging local stakeholders including government, ethical review bodies, but particularly research teams in India and Sierra Leone to co-design and execute qualitative health research. With a view to inform future global health research, we identify challenges and opportunities for building qualitative health research capacity in both sets of researchers and positioning qualitative research within interdisciplinary health research projects. Methods Our approach to collaboration for qualitative health research in India and Sierra Leone involves a process of co-designing protocols and ethics applications; jointly producing data collection tools; iterative and cooperative data collection, transcribing and analysis; and co-writing publications and policy briefs. Expected results This presentation will describe the early stage processes of building local research collaborations for carrying out qualitative health research in low and middle-income countries (LMIC). We identify challenges as well as practical strategies and technological aids to develop cross-country partnerships. Conclusions While several global health research projects will involve similar processes for building sustainable partnerships with local researchers, less is documented on how early stage collaborations are forged and the challenges overcome particularly in low-resource settings. This presentation contributes to addressing this gap, laying a pathway for future qualitative health research in LMICs.
Highlights
International health projects are increasingly engaging local researchers to ensure that interventions are cost-effective and locally relevant
With a view to inform future global health research, we identify challenges and opportunities for building qualitative health research capacity in both sets of researchers and positioning qualitative research within interdisciplinary health research projects
While several global health research projects will involve similar processes for building sustainable partnerships with local researchers, less is documented on how early stage collaborations are forged and the challenges overcome in low-resource settings
Summary
Many European organisations provide creative activities for displaced people, including refugees and asylum seekers, that aim to reduce social isolation and counter prevalent mental health issues including anxiety, depression, nonaffective psychosis and post-traumatic stress disorder. A growing body of evidence suggests that taking part in artistic and cultural activities benefits human health and wellbeing, though this research has been mostly non-collaborative in nature. Many European organisations provide creative activities for displaced people, including refugees and asylum seekers, that aim to reduce social isolation and counter prevalent mental health issues including anxiety, depression, nonaffective psychosis and post-traumatic stress disorder.. A growing body of evidence suggests that taking part in artistic and cultural activities benefits human health and wellbeing, though this research has been mostly non-collaborative in nature. Creative activities are seen to provide major benefits for displaced people, researchers need to
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