Public Health Research Methods Research Articles

Lowering the Stakes: Quasi-Experimental, Mixed-Methods Evaluation of a Restructured Grading Approach in a Graduate Public Health Research Methods Course

Lowering the Stakes: Quasi-Experimental, Mixed-Methods Evaluation of a Restructured Grading Approach in a Graduate Public Health Research Methods Course

3:00 P.M. - 4:30 P.M - WORKSHOP: EPIDEMIOLOGY AND PUBLIC HEALTH RESEARCH METHODS: Grand Ballroom II

3:00 P.M. - 4:30 P.M - WORKSHOP: EPIDEMIOLOGY AND PUBLIC HEALTH RESEARCH METHODS: Grand Ballroom II

Коментар щодо популяризації фізичної активності серед дітей та молоді

Topicality. Multiple studies have confirmed the significance of physical activity for the health of children and adolescents. However, in the majority of young individuals, their level of physical activity is insufficient. The aim of this article is to draw on the extensive experience of the Children’s Physical Activity Research Group (CPARG) team to develop a set of recommendations on promoting physical activity in children and youth. Methods of the research. The CPARG has applied public health research methods to the study of physical activity, that could be used to promote children’s physical activity at the population level. Results of the work and the key conclusions. A conceptual model for a set of recommendations regarding physical activity for children and youth has been developed, based on research and experience from CPARG, and divided into five categories. Two recommendations focus on persuading, prompting, and praising children and youth for engaging in physical activity at the individual and societal levels. Two recommendations emphasize the importance of providing places where children can engage in safe structured (programs), unstructured (play), and transportation physical activity, and one additional recommendation in the play, programs, participation & pleasure category stresses the importance of structuring these opportunities to facilitate fun, engagement, and enjoyment for children of all ages and abilities. Two recommendations address the need for enacting and enforcing practices and policies to promote physical activity at the local to national levels. Finally, three recommendations build toward the goal of engaging in behaviors at the individual to societal levels to convey physical activity as the normative pattern, communicating that physical activity is what we do.

Mesto antropologije u nauci o javnom zdravlju

Public Health Science and Medical Anthropology both approach the topic of population health, or public health, each from the positions of their respective scientific research discourses. Although different, these scientific positions can and do complement each other. Medical anthropology introduces a holistic approach to public health topics, while examining the issue from the perspective of the community itself. Since mid-20th century, in public health research an anthropological approach have been mainly used as a medium for the introduction of various public health interventions into different cultural contexts, i.e. communities. Starting from the 1980ies, medical anthropology has been gradually recognized as a science dealing with a critical analysis of public health as such. At the same time, among public health professionals it was gradually accepted that the application of anthropological, or, more precisely, qualitative methods in public health research contributed to a better understanding of the problem and gave special strength to evidence as a basis for the development and improvement of health policies, provided, of course, that it was used with quantitative indicators. However, the capacities of medical anthropology to critically examine the place and role of public health policies and interventions in a wider cultural context, as well as optimal opportunities for the development and implementation of health interventions in a particular cultural context, to evaluate public health response to a particular problem and the like, are still not sufficiently recognized in public health scientific discourse. In recent years, since outbreaks of epidemics such as Ebola in West Africa, or pandemics such as COVID-19, and the challenges they brought to public health professionals, there has been a better understanding of need for improved integration of scientific knowledge and methods of social sciences and humanities, including medical anthropology, into various fields of public health. The World Health Organization has formulated and adopted an initiative to apply behavioural and cultural insights to health starting from 2020. This concept emphasizes the need for greater application of social and humanistic scientific approaches and knowledge, including anthropological, to public health discourse. The prerequisite for practical cooperation between public health professionals and medical anthropologists is the formation of interdisciplinary research teams, but also their education in complementary scientific fields

Shifting paradigm from biomedical to decolonised methods in Inuit public health research in Canada: a scoping review

BackgroundThe National Inuit Strategy on Research focuses on advancing Inuit governance in research, increasing ownership over data and building capacity. Responding to this call for Inuit self-determination in research, academic...

What Are the Right Tools for Studying Arts in Health Interventions?

The arts can touch places that are difficult to recognize and understand, capture in words, or measure by numbers-whether you're an artist, a patient, or an educator. This ineffability presents a dilemma for practitioners and researchers in arts in health when questions of legitimacy, efficacy, program implementation, and research funding are tied to outcomes-based research. Ethical tensions arise when traditional public health and clinical research methods are the wrong tools for capturing what's vital about the arts. This article argues that being a responsible arts in health researcher requires interrogating what counts as evidence, especially when the insistence on rigor risks oversimplifying and diminishing the power of the arts. It further argues for equity in arts in health research, including equity in investigative strategies that value both the arts and the research.

Knowledge, Attitude, and Perception of Cancer Patients towards COVID-19 in Pakistan: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: Cancer patients, being immunocompromised, are at higher risk of coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The current study determines cancer patients’ knowledge, attitude, perception, and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted in Pakistan from 1 April 2020 to 1 May 2020. The study respondents were cancer patients with ages equal to or greater than 18 years. Following a request for participation, the URL for the survey was distributed on numerous channels. Other social media platforms, including WeChat, WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Messenger, and LinkedIn, were used to increase cancer patient interaction. The questionnaire comprised five different sections such as: (1) sociodemographic information, (2) knowledge, (3) attitude, (4) perception, and (5) impact of COVID-19 on cancer patients. Descriptive medical statistics such as frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation were used to illustrate the demographic characteristics of the study participants. To compare mean knowledge scores with selected demographic variables, independent sample t-tests and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used, which are also practical methods in epidemiological, public health and medical research. The cut-off point for statistical significance was set at a p-value of 0.05. Results: More than 300 cancer patients were invited, of which 208 agreed to take part. The response rate was 69.33% (208/300). Gender, marital status, and employment status had a significant association with knowledge scores. Of the total recruited participants, 96% (n = 200) (p < 0.01) knew about COVID-19, and 90% were aware of general symptoms of COVID-19 disease, such as route of transmission and preventive measurements. In total, 94.5% (n = 197) (p < 0.01) were willing to accept isolation if they were infected with COVID-19, and 98% (n = 204) (p < 0.01) had reduced their use of public transportation. More than 90% (n = 188) (p < 0.01) of cancer patients were found to be practicing preventative measures such as using a face mask, keeping social distance, and avoiding handshaking and hugging. Around 94.4% (n = 196) (p < 0.01) of cancer patients had been impacted by, stopped or had changed cancer treatment during this pandemic, resulting in COVID-related anxiety and depression. Conclusion: The included cancer patients exhibited a good level of COVID-19 knowledge, awareness, positive attitude, and perception. Large-scale studies and efforts are needed to raise COVID-19 awareness among less educated and high-risk populations. The present survey indicates that mass-level effective health education initiatives are required for developing countries to improve and reduce the gap between KAP and COVID-19.

The value of qualitative methods to public health research, policy and practice.

This article reviews the role and use of qualitative methods in public health research.‘Signs of quality’ are introduced to help guide potential authors to publish their qualitative research in public health journals. We conclude that high-quality qualitative research offers insights that quantitative research cannot. It is time for all public health journals to recognise the value of qualitative research and increase the amount that they publish.

Development and Evaluation of a Research Methods Course in Protocol Writing for Learners in a Master of Public Health Program

Training in research methods is important for improvement of healthcare delivery and population outcomes. Graduate programs of public health play a critical role in offering such education to current and future healthcare professionals as well as entry level learners with no experience in the field. A key skill across all fields of research methods and public health practice is protocol writing. It is unknown if teaching students research methods through protocol writing is a successful strategy and whether students find it to be helpful as they pursue health professions. The objective of this study was to describe the design and evaluation of a research methods course focused on protocol writing among students enrolled a Masters of Public Health Program. A case report design including description of course content, method of evaluation, and course delivery are provided. The setting was the Population and Public Health Research Methods course at a publicly funded institution in Canada. The first three cohorts of students (2016-2018) enrolled in the course were evaluated during the course period and six months after completing the course. A total of 51 students completed the survey, and the majority were students were very or extremely satisfied with the course. Overall students expressed that the course well-prepared them for their practicum or thesis work and post-graduation plans. Findings suggest that using protocol writing as a tool for teaching research methods was well-received by students and prepared them for both their potential career paths and for future research.

When Public Health Research Meets Social Media: Knowledge Mapping From 2000 to 2018.

BackgroundSocial media has substantially changed how people confront health issues. However, a comprehensive understanding of how social media has altered the foci and methods in public health research remains lacking.ObjectiveThis study aims to examine research themes, the role of social media, and research methods in social media–based public health research published from 2000 to 2018.MethodsA dataset of 3419 valid studies was developed by searching a list of relevant keywords in the Web of Science and PubMed databases. In addition, this study employs an unsupervised text-mining technique and topic modeling to extract research themes of the published studies. Moreover, the role of social media and research methods adopted in those studies were analyzed.ResultsThis study identifies 25 research themes, covering different diseases, various population groups, physical and mental health, and other significant issues. Social media assumes two major roles in public health research: produce substantial research interest for public health research and furnish a research context for public health research. Social media provides substantial research interest for public health research when used for health intervention, human-computer interaction, as a platform of social influence, and for disease surveillance, risk assessment, or prevention. Social media acts as a research context for public health research when it is mere reference, used as a platform to recruit participants, and as a platform for data collection. While both qualitative and quantitative methods are frequently used in this emerging area, cutting edge computational methods play a marginal role.ConclusionsSocial media enables scholars to study new phenomena and propose new research questions in public health research. Meanwhile, the methodological potential of social media in public health research needs to be further explored.

An Empirical Study of Applying Statistical Disclosure Control Methods to Public Health Research

Patient data or information collected from public health and health care surveys are of great research value. Usually, the data contain sensitive personal information. Doctors, nurses, or researchers in the public health and health care sector do not analyze the available datasets or survey data on their own, and may outsource the tasks to third parties. Even though all identifiers such as names and ID card numbers are removed, there may still be some occasions in which an individual can be re-identified via the demographic or particular information provided in the datasets. Such data privacy issues can become an obstacle in health-related research. Statistical disclosure control (SDC) is a useful technique used to resolve this problem by masking and designing released data based on the original data. Whilst ensuring the released data can satisfy the needs of researchers for data analysis, there is high protection of the original data from disclosure. In this research, we discuss the statistical properties of two SDC methods: the General Additive Data Perturbation (GADP) method and the Gaussian Copula General Additive Data Perturbation (CGADP) method. An empirical study is provided to demonstrate how we can apply these two SDC methods in public health research.

Protocol for a systematic review of the use of qualitative comparative analysis for evaluative questions in public health research

BackgroundThere is an increasing recognition that health intervention research requires methods and approaches that can engage with the complexity of systems, interventions, and the relations between systems and interventions. One approach which shows promise to this end is qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), which examines casual complexity across a medium to large number of cases (between 10 and 60+), whilst also being able to generalise across those cases. Increasingly, QCA is being adopted in public health intervention research. However, there is a limited understanding of how it is being adopted. This systematic review will address this gap, examining how it is being used to understand complex causation; for what settings, populations and interventions; and with which datasets to describe cases.MethodsWe will include published and peer-reviewed studies of any public health intervention where the effects on population health, health equity, or intervention uptake are being evaluated. Electronic searches of PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science (incorporating Social Sciences Citation Index and Arts & Humanities Citation Index), Microsoft Academic, and Google Scholar will be performed. This will be supplemented with reference citation tracking and personal contact with experts to identify any additional published studies. Search results will be single screened, with machine learning used to check these results, acting as a ‘second screener’. Any disagreement will be resolved through discussion. Data will be extracted from full texts of eligible studies, which will be assessed against inclusion criteria, and synthesised narratively, using thematic synthesis methods.DiscussionThis systematic review will provide an important map of the increasing use of QCA in public health intervention literature. This review will identify the current scope of research in this area, as well as assessing claims about the utility of the method for addressing complex causation in public health research. We will identify implications for better reporting of QCA methods in public health research and for reporting of case studies such that they can be used in future QCA studies.Systematic review registrationPROSPERO, CRD42019131910

Capacity building in the field of public health in Tunisia: processes and challenges

Abstract Introduction Capacity building activities between 3 Tunisian Medical Faculties (University of Sfax, University of Tunis el Manar and University of Sousse) and 3 European Universities (Babes-Bolyai University, University of Southern Denmark and Trnava University) began in 2017 in the framework of an Erasmus+ project. The aim of the collaboration is threefold: first, Tunisian partners were assisted in developing the infrastructure of the Centre for Evidence into Health Policy (C4EHP); second, EU- Partners delivered the Research into Policy training programme with 3 modules: public health research methods, evidence-based policymaking and health promotion policies. The program consisted of train-the-trainer and train-the-trainee sessions; third, partners are continuously working on strengthening the collaboration between the academic and non-academic sectors in the field of public health. Lessons learnt Developing the C4EHP contributed to the official recognition of the research structure in the partner Universities. The challenges faced were administrative and legislative national procedures and delays in the equipment delivery and instalment. The train-the-trainer sessions empowered the 18 Tunisian participants to acknowledge their importance in the development of the public health field. Knowledge transfer faced challenges due to differences in the culture and working process, adhering to deadlines, communicating via email as well as due to language barriers. The capacities were, however, strengthened when the trainers started teaching themselves and delivered the train-the-trainee sessions. We observed a level of distrust from the non-academic sector due to previous international projects, unrelated with the current project or implementation team, and which had elicited little to no impact. Development of local collaboration between academic and non-academic sectors needs to be explored deeper.

Bivariate Copula-based Linear Mixed-effects Models: An Application to Longitudinal Child Growth Data

Multiple longitudinal outcomes are common in public health research and adequate methods are required when there is interest in the joint evolution of response variables over time. However, the main drawback of joint modeling procedures is the requirement to specify the joint density of all outcomes and their correlation structure, as well as numerical difficulties in statistical inference, when the dimension of these outcomes increases. To overcome such difficulty, we present two procedures to deal with multivariate longitudinal data. We first present an univariate approach, for which linear mixed-effects models are considered for each response variable separately. Then, a novel copula-based modeling is presented, in order to characterize relationships among the response variables. Both methodologies are applied to a real Brazilian data set on child growth.

Unintended consequences in traffic-light food labeling: A call for mixed methods in public health research

Nudge theory describes how indirect suggestions and positive reinforcement can influence decision-making. We used nudge theory to implement a traffic-light labeling and choice architecture (modifying product placement) intervention at Harvard University cafeterias, but found no significant change in sales. Survey and focus group data showed that some students thought the labeling may exacerbate eating disorders, however, there is extremely limited research on potential negative consequences of labeling. One way to describe these findings is through 20th century philosopher Michel Foucault’s concept of biopower. Biopower manipulates cultural norms and nudges individuals to engage in self-surveillance and self-discipline, de facto subjugating themselves to certain ways of being. Biopower may lead to the creation of an in-group and an out-group based on who can adopt the new behaviors, such as healthy eating. Those in the out-group may face additional unintended consequences, highlighting the need for mixed-methods research to better evaluate public health interventions.

Adaptation, Implementation, and Evaluation of a Public Health Research Methods Training for Youth.

Purpose: To adapt, implement, and evaluate a public health research methods training program for youth. The Community Research Fellows Training Program is an evidence-based public health research methods training program for adults (18 years and older). The Youth Research Fellows Training (YRFT) is an adaptation of this program for youth.Methods: University faculty facilitate didactic training sessions and experiential small group activities in biweekly sessions conducted as part of an existing 4-week summer camp. Participants were African American girls (n=11) ranging from ages 10 to 14 years (most recent grade completed 4th–8th). To evaluate participant knowledge gain and satisfaction pre-tests were administered before each session, and post-test and evaluations were administered after each session. In addition, faculty completed web-based evaluation surveys on their experience teaching in the program.Results: Mean and median post-test scores were higher than pre-test scores for most (6 of the 7) of the training sessions; one session had no difference in scores. Participants rated the sessions well, on average overall session ratings of 4.3–4.8 on a 5-point Likert scale. Faculty rated their experience teaching in the program as excellent or very good and would be willing to teach in the program again (n=7; 100%).Conclusion: This pilot implementation of the YRFT program proved highly successful in terms of participant and faculty experience. The program evaluation demonstrates increased knowledge of public health research methods. This program has the potential to prepare youth to engage in public health research as partners not just participants.

Mixed Methods in Public Health Research

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/hprospect.v10i0.5649Health Prospect Vol.10 2011, pp.39-40

AskFuse origins: system barriers to providing the research that public health practice and policy partners say they need

In this paper the development of askFuse is used as a case study to illustrate contextual and system barriers to universities providing useful, usable and timely research evidence in response to local practice and policy partners’ stated public health research needs. Entrenched systems (research excellence framework, academic career pathways, procurement processes) proved to be considerable obstacles. Issues discussed in the successful operationalising of askFuse included: reputational risks, uncertainty; working round system barriers; dilemmas in costing the research; and an opportunity to re-think what counts as valuable research, effective public health research methods, and the creation of a new evidence base.

Implementation and Mixed-Methods Evaluation of Team-Based Learning in a Graduate Public Health Research Methods Course

Master of Public Health (MPH) students must develop skills to work in collaborative, interdisciplinary, and interprofessional teams upon graduation. Teaching pedagogies that involve active learning and collaboration between students, such as team-based learning (TBL), may be helpful in preparing students to work in teams. To our knowledge, there is no literature examining TBL specifically in the context of graduate public health education to date. This study evaluated the implementation of TBL in a Behavioral Science Research Methods course on the following outcomes: (a) engagement with the course material, (b) perceived effectiveness of TBL components, (c) experience working in teams, and (d) perceived mastery of learning outcomes. We conducted a survey of first-year MPH students enrolled in the TBL research methods course ( n = 45 respondents) and three focus groups ( n = 17 total). Two focus groups were conducted with second-year MPH students who previously took a lecture-based version of the course ( n = 10 total). Overall, students in the TBL research methods course felt confident in their mastery of learning outcomes. Students appeared more engaged with the TBL course material than with material from lecture-based courses. They also perceived this instructional method to be effective in facilitating learning. Main themes that emerged around working in teams included the central role of teammates in students’ learning, the logistic and procedural roles students took on within their teams, and team dynamics. The TBL format engages MPH students in course content and has strong potential for preparing students for collaborative work in diverse teams.

Estimating the Trafficked Population: Public-Health Research Methodologies May Be the Answer

ABSTRACTInevitably, there are a great number of methodological challenges and limitations to estimating the extent of human trafficking, which are largely due to definitional issues and the hidden nature of the trafficked population. To date, most national and global estimates of the problem have been discredited for using flawed, nontransparent, or nonexistent research methods; however, researchers have previously suggested that methodologies from public health, including those used to estimate hidden and transient populations, might also be useful to estimate the trafficked population. Specifically, research design, sampling strategies, and measures commonly used to estimate hidden populations in public-health research may hold promise for future human-trafficking studies, reducing bias and resulting in more narrow and precise range estimates of victims. This article presents examples of studies using public-health research methods to estimate various hidden and stigmatized populations (e.g., injection drug-users, homeless and runaway youth) and proposes a set of strategies that might be considered for future prevalence studies on human trafficking. Recent prevalence studies on human trafficking that have successfully implemented public-health research methods, such as Respondent-Driven Sampling and Venue-Based Sampling, are also discussed.