Large-scale Programs Research Articles

Using prevention cascades to investigate coverage of contraception services among young women enrolled in a large-scale combination HIV prevention program in South Africa

ObjectivesWe investigated the coverage of contraception services (excluding condoms) to prevent unintended pregnancy among young women and girls aged 15 to 24 years who were beneficiaries of one of the two largest combination HIV and pregnancy prevention program in South Africa. Study designWe invited 2160 randomly sampled beneficiaries who were living in six of the 12 program districts across six provinces to participate in a telephone survey. We created pregnancy prevention coverage cascades and conducted univariate and multivariable analyses to identify key barriers and facilitators associated with each step of the cascade. ResultsWe achieved a response rate of 23.8%, resulting in 515 respondents, of whom 303 had sex in the 6 months before the survey. Of this subsample, 80.4% had access to contraception services, 60.6% had access and motivation to use contraceptives, and 21.9% had access to, motivation to use, and effectively used contraceptives. Distance to travel to services and not ever being offered contraceptives by health workers were access barriers, while low pregnancy risk perception was a barrier to motivation. ConclusionsMost respondents had access to and were motivated to use contraceptives other than condoms but were not effectively using them. Having been offered contraceptives facilitated better access, while distance to the services was a barrier, suggesting the importance of improving supply-side interventions, such as increasing the number and accessibility of spaces where Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) services are offered. We recommend longitudinal behavioral counseling for young people, especially adolescents, as well as risk reduction and information-tailored interventions. ImplicationsPregnancy prevention cascades are a promising tool to monitor progress toward universal access to contraception services and to identify barriers that need to be addressed to achieve the effective use of contraceptives.

Freshmen’s intention to engage in faculty mentoring: applying the theory of planned behavior

ABSTRACT While faculty to freshmen mentoring (FFM) has been shown to benefit freshmen, not all of them wish to engage in such a program when entering higher education. This questionnaire survey (N = 551) built on the theory of planned behavior to investigate the determinants of freshmen’s intention to engage in a large-scale FFM program called POLLEM. Results showed that general factors were at work, as well as factors specific to mentoring and to FFM in particular. They revealed that freshmen’s experiential attitude, descriptive norm, injunctive norm and perceived ability matter and highlighted key underlying beliefs (e.g. mentoring boosts self-esteem, shyness impedes engagement) as playing a major role. This study therefore confirmed the relevance of the TPB for understanding/studying the decision to engage in mentoring and for designing interventions likely to boost it.

Machine Learning Algorithm to Identify Hesitancy Towards Covid-19 Vaccination Among the Rural Citizens Under E-Governance Initiatives

The Indian Government has taken massive initiatives to control the pandemic virus of COVID-19. Recently, the Government has decided to begin the process of a large-scale vaccination programme to create an end to the crisis due to COVID-19. However, vaccination is found to be the major solution as suggested by various health care experts to stop the widespread of this deadly virus, hesitancy towards getting vaccinated is found to be more in the rural villages of India. The process of getting vaccinated was not made compulsory by the government, but still there exists skepticism in minds of rural citizens towards COVID-19 vaccination. Text Analytics has been implemented to identify the exact emotions among rural citizens towards COVID Vaccinations. Hence the present research study has identified the major reasons for hesitancy towards getting vaccinated for COVID-19 using machine learning techniques. The researchers of the current study have also measured the emotions and signs of sentiments of the rural citizens on COVID-19 vaccination.

Rural road connectivity and local economic Activity: Evidence from Sri Lanka’s iRoad program

A large portion of the world's rural population has limited access to paved roads, which is widely believed to constrain rural economic growth opportunities. Using a panel of nighttime lights and road placement data from the Integrated Road Investment Program (iRoad), a large-scale rural road development program in Sri Lanka, this study examines the relationship between rural road connectivity and local nighttime luminosity. The program was found to result in better and more consistent rural road conditions. Rural areas with improved connectivity after two years show higher local nighttime luminosity, a proxy for economic activity, compared to areas without connectivity. These gains hold even for indirectly targeted rural areas where the iRoad passes through. The gains vary spatially, which are most pronounced in areas at a moderate distance to socioeconomic centers and with more adequate complementary infrastructure provisions. These findings support the notion that improving rural connectivity can ease development constraints, increase resilience in managing negative economic shocks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and contribute to post-pandemic economic recovery. The findings also lend to the idea that targeted placements based on the beneficiary's location and complementary infrastructure (e.g., educational and medical facilities) can enhance the effectiveness of rural road investments. An intensive margin analysis suggests that post-construction maintenance is effective in bringing about sustained impact.

Best practices and lessons learned from implementing a massive Ebola vaccination program: Summarizing UMURINZI team experience.

The unified Rwandan initiative for national ZEBOVAC immunization (UMURINZI) program's community engagement component was enacted to mobilize and vaccinate high-risk community members. This article describes best practices and lessons learned from the implementation of UMURINZI, a large-scale Ebola vaccination program. The population deemed to be at risk for EVD consisted of people who frequently cross Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) borders including those coming from Kigali City, potential first responders who have not previously been vaccinated against EVD, as well as people who reside in high-risk border-proximate areas of the Rubavu and Rusizi districts in the Western Province of Rwanda. These districts were selected because of their proximity to high-traffic borders linking Rwanda to DRC's cities near an active Ebola outbreak. Volunteers of this program were adults, adolescents, and children aged 2 years or above who resided in the selected communities. Recruitment at the sites was conducted in close collaboration with each health area's Community Health Workers (CHWs). Volunteers were informed that the program involved being fully vaccinated (two doses of Ebola vaccines) within 2 months apart in the allocated vaccination sites. Lessons learned were categorized into four pillars: infrastructure, leadership, myths, and partnership with respect. The best practices that were used during the implementation of the UMURINZI program were the results of a collaboration among CHWs, the involvement of national and local leaders, the use of a comprehensive engagement plan, and training. The study also had limitations. We described best practices and lessons learned during the implementation of the UMURINZI program in Rwanda. These practices and lessons learned represent promising options that could contribute to better community members' participation in mass vaccination programs. Hence, we demonstrated that rigorously designed community awareness and sensitization programs are effective for the implementation of similar programs in resource-limited settings.

Research on functional verification method processor model built by Chisel

With the increasing complexity of hardware design, verification has become the difficulty of chip design. In order to effectively shorten the overall working time of the design process, it is necessary to work out a method to quickly find design errors in the verification that takes up a lot of time in the design. The design under test is an ARM Chisel compatible with the ARM V4 instruction set architecture (ISA) processor model. The processor model is built with a new hardware language Chisel and is a highly complex hardware design. Based on this embedded processor model, ①a random instruction generator supporting all instructions of the ARM V4 ISA architecture is designed to increase the speed of generating test stimuli; ②based on the characteristics of the new construction language Chisel, designed for the processor model under test four verification stages: primary verification at the Chisel level, rapid verification of coverage, direct test verification and verification of complex applications, to ensure that the expected coverage is achieved; ③built in the Chisel environment and Verilog environment based on the embedded processor model Test platform. The test platform can quickly and accurately find errors and locate errors while collecting coverage, which improves the verification speed. Finally, the FPGA acceleration method is used to accelerate the verification of large-scale application programs and shorten the verification cycle.

Sociohumanitarian issues of preconception genetic screening programs

Preconception genetic testing for carriage of recessive mutations is an important genetic test that allows for better planning of the method of conception (natural or IVF), the course of pregnancy, and the need for additional screening of the developing fetus. Despite the obvious benefits that ECS brings to public health, uncertainty about issues and concepts such as determining disease severity, the social consequences of routine screening, and target setting create ethical controversies in defining conditions appropriate for inclusion in a screening panel. The development of a large-scale screening program exacerbates uncertainties and requires methodological elaboration. The author identifies and reviews problem areas of pre-conceptual genetic carrier testing not from the side of ethical implications, specific (or perceived) cases, but looks for their source in the underdevelopment of basic concepts and intuitions in assessing the severity of genetic disease. Analytical and empirical tools in this situation appear to be insufficient. The author concludes that a satisfactory consensus can be reached only with the participation of socio-humanitarian scientists in its development, including epistemological, existential, sociological and other humanitarian dimensions in the analysis. Sociohumanitarian expertise is a necessary element for finding a systematic solution for pre-conceptual genetic screening programs.

Five-year results of a treatment program for chronic hepatitis B in Ethiopia

BackgroundIn sub-Saharan Africa, less than 1% of treatment-eligible chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients receive antiviral therapy. Experiences from local CHB programs are needed to inform treatment guidelines and policies on the continent. Here, we present 5-year results from one of the first large-scale CHB treatment programs in sub-Saharan Africa.MethodsAdults with CHB were enrolled in a pilot treatment program in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 2015. Liver enzymes, viral markers, and transient elastography were assessed at baseline and thereafter at 6-month intervals. Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate was initiated based on the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) criteria, with some modifications. Survival analysis was performed using the Kaplan–Meier method.ResultsIn total, 1303 patients were included in the program, of whom 291 (22.3%) started antiviral therapy within the initial 5 years of follow-up. Among patients on treatment, estimated 5-year hepatocellular carcinoma-free survival was 99.0% in patients without cirrhosis at baseline, compared to 88.8% in patients with compensated cirrhosis, and 54.2% in patients with decompensated cirrhosis (p < 0.001). The risk of death was significantly higher in patients with decompensated cirrhosis at baseline (adjusted hazard ratio 44.6, 95% confidence interval 6.1–328.1) and in patients older than 40 years (adjusted hazard ratio 3.7, 95% confidence interval 1.6–8.5). Liver stiffness declined significantly after treatment initiation; the median change from baseline after 1, 3, and 5 years of treatment was − 4.0 kPa, − 5.2 kPa, and − 5.6 kPa, respectively.ConclusionsThis pilot program demonstrates the long-term benefits of CHB therapy in a resource-limited setting. The high mortality in patients with cirrhosis underscores the need for earlier detection of CHB and timely initiation of antiviral treatment in sub-Saharan Africa.Trial registrationThe study was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02344498) on January 26, 2015.

A Retinal Oct-Angiography and Cardiovascular STAtus (RASTA) Dataset of Swept-Source Microvascular Imaging for Cardiovascular Risk Assessment

In the context of exponential demographic growth, the imbalance between human resources and public health problems impels us to envision other solutions to the difficulties faced in the diagnosis, prevention, and large-scale management of the most common diseases. Cardiovascular diseases represent the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. A large-scale screening program would make it possible to promptly identify patients with high cardiovascular risk in order to manage them adequately. Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCT-A), as a window into the state of the cardiovascular system, is a rapid, reliable, and reproducible imaging examination that enables the prompt identification of at-risk patients through the use of automated classification models. One challenge that limits the development of computer-aided diagnostic programs is the small number of open-source OCT-A acquisitions available. To facilitate the development of such models, we have assembled a set of images of the retinal microvascular system from 499 patients. It consists of 814 angiocubes as well as 2005 en face images. Angiocubes were captured with a swept-source OCT-A device of patients with varying overall cardiovascular risk. To the best of our knowledge, our dataset, Retinal oct-Angiography and cardiovascular STAtus (RASTA), is the only publicly available dataset comprising such a variety of images from healthy and at-risk patients. This dataset will enable the development of generalizable models for screening cardiovascular diseases from OCT-A retinal images.

A Sequential Model for High-Volume Recruitment Under Random Yields

A Sequential Model for High-Volume Recruitment Under Random Yields High-volume recruiting is challenging, as it involves hiring a larger number of people in a short amount of time. In “A Sequential Model for High-Volume Recruitment Under Random Yields,” Du, Li, and Yu model a high-volume recruiting process as a large-scale dynamic program. Their model captures three important features of high-volume recruiting: multiple phases, random yields, and a preset hiring target. They provide a decision tool to answer practical questions about the number of offers to be made in each phase and the number of phases in a recruitment season. To solve the dynamic program, they rely on approximations, and the approximations are asymptotically optimal when the volume is large. Their simulation studies confirm the convergence results. They illustrate how their modeling framework can be put into practice in a case study, which shows that their decision tool can improve the recruiting outcome.

The results of the study of multiple selections in a breeding nursery when creating new soybean varieties

Relevance. At the present stage for agricultural production, the creation of new domestic competitive varieties of various plants is of paramount importance within the framework of the large-scale program of the Russian Federation for import substitution, while one of the most important and sought-after crops in Russia is soybean.Methods. The material for the research was the hybrid populations F7-F17 generations of the breeding nursery (SP), which is annually replenished with selections of individual plants from the F6 hybrid nursery.Results. An estimate of the duration of multiple selections by the pedigry method in a breeding nursery (SP) until obtaining homozygous lines is given. The analysis of the conducted studies showed that out of 29 soybean varieties of hybrid origin included in the State Register of Breeding Achievements of the Russian Federation and being tested for 2023, 13 varieties (Harmoniya, Lydia, Nega 1, MK-100, Lebedushka, Zhuravushka, Lacemaker, Cinderella, Tisey, Lyana, Olimp, Lastochka, Tatiana) (44.8%) were obtained on the basis of multiple selections F7-F9 in the breeding nursery, and the variety Persona, which is included in the State Register for 11 regions and is in demand in the Amur Region, was isolated from the hybrid population of the F17 generation. As a result of the assessment for 2020–2022. F7-F17 generations of the breeding nursery according to the duration of splitting in hybrid populations, it was found that multiple selection up to the tenth generation is most effective (F7 — 35.1%, F8 — 30.8%, F9 — 12.1%), but promising highly productive lines with economically valuable traits can also be obtained from later generations

Potential for a large-scale newborn screening strategy for sickle cell disease in Mali: A comparative diagnostic performance study of two rapid diagnostic tests (SickleScan® and HemotypeSC®) on cord blood.

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a life-threatening disease requiring reliable early diagnosis. We assessed the acceptability and diagnostic performances of two rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) to identify SCD (HbSS, HbSC, HbS/β-thalassaemia) or SCD carrier (HbS/HbC) in a pilot SCD newborn screening (NBS) strategy in Mali. All consenting delivering women were offered SCD NBS using cord blood sampling on two RDTs (SickleScan® and HemotypeSC®) compared to the high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) gold standard to detect SCD states. From April 2021 to August 2021, 4333 delivering women were eligible of whom 96.1% were offered NBS: 1.6% refused, 13.8% delivered before consenting and 84.6% consented; 3648 newborns were diagnosed by HPLC; 1.64% had SCD (0.63% HbSS, 0.85% HbSC, 0.16 HbS/β-plus-thalassaemia); 21.79% were SCD carrier. To detect accurately SCD, SickleScan® had a sensitivity of 81.67% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 71.88-91.46) and a negative predictive value (NPV) of 99.69% (95% CI: 99.51-99.87); HemotypeSC® had a sensitivity of 78.33% (95% CI: 67.91-88.76) and a NPV of 99.64% (95% CI: 99.44-99.83). To detect SCD carrier: SickleScan® sensitivity was 96.10% (95% CI: 94.75-97.45) and NPV, 98.90% (95% CI: 98.51-99.29); HemotypeSC® sensitivity was 95.22% (95% CI: 93.74-96.70) and NPV, 98.66% (95% CI: 98.24-99.03). Routine SCD NBS was acceptable. Compared with HPLC, both RDTs had reliable diagnostic performances to exclude SCD-free newborns and to identify SCD carriers to be further confirmed. This strategy could be implemented in large-scale NBS programmes.

Discriminant validity of the current gingivitis classification in adolescents: a cohort study.

To compare the prevalence of gingivitis estimated by the 2018 European Federation of Periodontology/American Academy of Periodontology (EFP/AAP) classification with the other case definitions and assess the ability of this classification system in discriminating sociodemographic and clinical factors associated with the presence of gingivitis in a cohort study. A multistage random sample of 1134 12-year-old adolescents was submitted to a full-mouth examination according to the Community Periodontal Index. Socioeconomic and clinical variables were collected at baseline. Gingivitis was considered according to the following criteria: (a) ≥ 10% of bleeding sites (the 2018 EFP/AAP criteria); (b) ≥ 15% of bleeding sites; and (c) the mean full-mouth bleeding sites. Adjusted multilevel Poisson regression assessed the association between independent variables at baseline and each definition of gingivitis at 2-year follow-up. Seven hundred forty-two 14-year-old adolescents were re-revaluated at follow-up. The prevalence of gingivitis was 28.7% according to 10% of bleeding threshold. The 2018 EFP/AAP criteria and other definitions showed higher prevalence and mean of gingivitis for low-household income adolescents and for those with higher levels of dental plaque and untreated dental caries. Nonetheless, the highest strengths of association were observed for the threshold of ≥ 15% of bleeding sites. The 2018 EFP/AAP case definition of gingivitis showed a similar discriminant validity compared to the 15% threshold and the mean full-mouth bleeding sites. The 2018 EFP/AAP classification allows the discrimination of important risk factors and should be used for the establishment of priorities for large-scale therapeutic programs.

DHEERA reaching the young, a novel approach addressing gender-based violence in India.

To understand, build capacities, give guidance, and support school-going adolescent boys and girls on gender stereotypes and violence against women (VAW) and to assess the role of educational training in improving knowledge, attitudes, and practice to stop VAW. An educational interventional study was conducted for a period of 18 months across schools in India, involving boys and girls studying in grades 9-12. Assessment of the program's effectiveness on influencing young minds in breaking the taboos surrounding gender stereotypes and stopping VAW was completed through a pre-test and post-test, consisting of 12 scenario-based questions. In all, 8931 participants (64% girls and 36% boys) from 26 states in India submitted their pre-test, post-test, and feedback forms. Participants showed improved clarity and comprehension on issues surrounding VAW/gender-based violence. There was a significant improvement in the knowledge on what actions can be taken and whom to approach for cases related to VAW/gender-based violence. The post-test survey showed a high level of commitment to overcoming gender stereotyping and stopping VAW. This unique nationwide study demonstrated the effectiveness of an educational intervention that led to improved knowledge, attitude, and commitment towards stopping VAW. A large-scale program can be self-sustaining when it is embedded in the schools responsible for shaping young minds.

Colonoscopy compliance and diagnostic yield in a large population-based colorectal cancer screening programme

ObjectivesWith the intention of providing a reference for secondary prevention, our study provides some insight on diagnostic yield of factors influencing compliance with colonoscopy and the presence of advanced adenomas (AA).MethodsWe conducted large-scale CRC screening among local Tianjin residents aged 40–75 years between 2012 and 2019. A high-risk factor questionnaire (HRFQ) was distributed to each participant, followed by the performance of a fecal immunochemical test (FIT). Participants who tested positively for any of these items were advised to undergo a colonoscopy. Relevant basic information was collected from participants during CRC screening, and the screening data were sorted and analysed.ResultsA total of 5,670,924 people participated in CRC screening by the end of 2019, including 275,708 people in the high-risk group, and 74,685 (27.1%) people who underwent colonoscopy. The results of the logistic regression model demonstrated that participants with a history of mucous bloody stool (OR = 8.20, 95% CI: 7.92, 8.50, p < 0.001), chronic diarrhea (OR = 5.73, 95% CI: 5.57, 5.89, p < 0.001), and higher level of education (OR = 1.87, 95% CI: 1.80, 1.93, p < 0.001) were more likely to comply with a colonoscopy. Several factors including age (70–75 years old:OR = 3.72, 95% CI: 2.71, 5.10, p < 0.001), and FIT( +) (OR = 1.65, 95% CI: 1.42,1.90, p < 0.001) were identified to be associated with the presence of AA.ConclusionsIncreased compliance with colonoscopy is urgently needed. Our findings can inform the design of future effective large-scale population-based CRC screening programmes.

Camera-based automated monitoring of flying insects (Camfi). I. Field and computational methods.

The ability to measure flying insect activity and abundance is important for ecologists, conservationists and agronomists alike. However, existing methods are laborious and produce data with low temporal resolution (e.g. trapping and direct observation), or are expensive, technically complex, and require vehicle access to field sites (e.g. radar and lidar entomology). We propose a method called "Camfi" for long-term non-invasive population monitoring and high-throughput behavioural observation of low-flying insects using images and videos obtained from wildlife cameras, which are inexpensive and simple to operate. To facilitate very large monitoring programs, we have developed and implemented a tool for automatic detection and annotation of flying insect targets in still images or video clips based on the popular Mask R-CNN framework. This tool can be trained to detect and annotate insects in a few hours, taking advantage of transfer learning. Our method will prove invaluable for ongoing efforts to understand the behaviour and ecology of declining insect populations and could also be applied to agronomy. The method is particularly suited to studies of low-flying insects in remote areas, and is suitable for very large-scale monitoring programs, or programs with relatively low budgets.

S1-3 Creating Active Schools

Abstract Purpose The Creating Active Schools Framework was co-developed in June 2019 by 50 national and international stakeholders (teachers, headteachers, active school coordinators, Public Health leads, Active Partnership school leads, UK and international researchers, national sport and education organisations, members of the local delivery pilots). The co-developed CAS programme takes a professional development approach to support schools to review current provision and make evidence-informed decisions to address school policy, environments, and stakeholder behaviour to improve opportunities for children to be physically active (https://ijbnpa.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12966-020-0917-z). Project description Since conception, the framework has been adopted by practice and has currently scaled to work across 18 localities in England and over 200 schools. As part of this journey, the development of the online profiling tool (https://www.creatingactiveschools.org), a central piece of the intervention approach that places professional development for physical activity at the heart of the school community will be shared. Key learning on drawing partners and stakeholders from across, policy, research and practice together will be provided as well as an overview of the planned wider rollout of CAS (adding a further 20 localities and 200 schools from Sept 2023). Plans for the interdisciplinary evaluation of the implementation of CAS at scale and the cost(effectiveness) of the programme under naturalistic conditions will be provided. Conclusions CAS, the UK’s first large-scale whole school physical activity programme, is uniquely placed to provide much-needed evidence to inform government investment and educational reform on how to scale health-based interventions under real-word conditions.

Natural Oil Lure Outperforms Trimedlure in Capturing Males of the Mediterranean Fruit Fly, Ceratitis capitata (Diptera: Tephritidae).

Females of certain tephritid fruit fly species (Diptera: Tephritidae) pose an enormous agricultural threat, as they oviposit in commercially important fruits and vegetables. Trapping networks are often operated in fruit fly-free areas to detect incipient infestations. Trapping relies largely on male attractants, so-called male lures, with trimedlure (TML) being used to detect invasive Ceratitis spp. Operating large-scale surveillance programs incurs substantial costs for both supplies and labor, and the problem is exacerbated by the fact that trimedlure (as well as other male lures) is effective for relatively short intervals in the field (6-8weeks). Because frequent servicing increases costs, there is considerable interest in modifying existing lures or developing new formulations to extend their effective field longevity. Here, we present results of a field study in Hawaii on a wild population of the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), that compared male captures in traps baited with (i) fresh liquid TML, (ii) TML plugs, (iii) a novel controlled-release TML sachet, and (iv) a novel natural oil blend dispensed from a sachet. Catch was recorded weekly for 12weeks and then at 16 and 20weeks, with 12 traps deployed per treatment. The natural oil formulation, which contains the natural plant product α-copaene, was as effective as the fresh liquid TML even after weathering for 20weeks. Future work will focus on developing a dispenser for this formulation that is compatible with standard trap design and deployment.

Social Norms Predict Bullying: Evidence from an Anti-Bullying Intervention Trial in Indonesia

AbstractSocial norms pertaining to negative or violent interpersonal behaviours constitute a promising target for programs designed to reduce bullying. Yet, there is a lack of evidence on anti-bullying programs targeting social norms in non-Western, low- and middle-income countries. Here, we report findings on the relationship between social norms and bullying from one such large-scale program, the feasibility trial of the ROOTS-Indonesia intervention. This intervention was delivered across 12 secondary schools in two different regions in Indonesia. We report findings based on a total of 7,203 students at baseline (in South Sulawesi, n = 1901, mean age = 13 years, 53% female; and in Central Java, n = 5302, mean age = 13.3 years, 48% female). Via a multilevel analytic approach, we found consistent evidence that the extent to which negative behaviours were considered normative by students was associated with how much they would engage in bullying, both as perpetrators and as victims. Our data reveal some encouraging trends suggesting the ROOTS-Indonesia intervention reduced negative social norms. We note a trend such that where social norms decreased the most at follow-up, the rates of bullying similarly decreased the most. Overall, we provide further evidence that social norms are a promising avenue for the reduction of negative interpersonal behaviours.

Becoming a professional supervisor: Doctoral supervisors’ development in a mandatory, large-scale development programme

High-quality supervision is crucial for doctoral researchers’ progression, attrition rates, well-being, and experience of their doctoral journeys. New requirements in higher education have actualised the professional development of doctoral supervisors’ praxis, both as an institutional responsibility and academic field. However, there is a lack of literature exploring doctoral supervisors’ perspectives on professional development. This paper explores what doctoral supervisors find essential for their professional development when attending a mandatory programme for doctoral supervisors. Drawing on a longitudinal case study on the professional development of supervisors, five core aspects essential for the professional development of doctoral supervisors’ praxis are identified: institutional responsibility and support; transformational learning; building a broader repertoire of approaches to supervision; learning to balance complexity, and interaction and identity formation within supervisors’ communities. Based on these findings, a set of institutional recommendations for the professional development of doctoral is suggested.