TY - JOUR
T1 - Complexities and dilemmas in community consultation on the design of a research project logo in Malawi
AU - Nyirenda, Deborah
AU - Gooding, Kate
AU - Lora, Wezzie
AU - Kumwenda, Moses
AU - McMorrow, Meredith
AU - Everett, Dean
AU - Desmond, Nicola
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, grant number U01IP000848 to DE. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript. We would like to thank all community members who contributed their views on the flu logos. Disclaimer: The findings and conclusions in this manuscript are those of the authors and do not represent the official position of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Publisher Copyright:
This is an open access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication.
PY - 2018/10/1
Y1 - 2018/10/1
N2 - Background Community engagement on research design is widely highlighted as an important approach for ethical research. This article reports the experience of consulting with communities on the logo used for an influenza study in Malawi. The logo was designed for use on badges worn by study researchers, participant information sheets and other project documents, and could affect perceptions of the study and consequent engagement in the research. Methods Four focus group discussions were conducted with populations targeted by the influenza study: pregnant women, people with HIV, mothers and community members. The focus groups incorporated a participatory matrix exercise focusing on key themes emerging from the discussions such as: attractiveness, comprehension, acceptability and suggestions for improvement. Findings from the focus groups were analyzed according to these key themes. Results The consultation highlighted important benefits of discussion with communities on research design, including providing new perspectives and helping to avoid harm. For example, people living with HIV felt that one of the possible logos could increase stigma within communities. The experience also indicated potential challenges of consultation. In particular, there were contrasting perspectives among the groups, such that the consultation did not provide a clear answer about which logo should be selected. Conclusions Our experience adds to current evidence on community engagement by reporting on an area where there is less discussion of community consultation for design of a study logo. The consultation exercise reaffirmed the value of community engagement, but also the difficulty of relying on a brief consultation for decision-making in research design. Further ethical guidance is required on how to negotiate contradictory views during consultations.
AB - Background Community engagement on research design is widely highlighted as an important approach for ethical research. This article reports the experience of consulting with communities on the logo used for an influenza study in Malawi. The logo was designed for use on badges worn by study researchers, participant information sheets and other project documents, and could affect perceptions of the study and consequent engagement in the research. Methods Four focus group discussions were conducted with populations targeted by the influenza study: pregnant women, people with HIV, mothers and community members. The focus groups incorporated a participatory matrix exercise focusing on key themes emerging from the discussions such as: attractiveness, comprehension, acceptability and suggestions for improvement. Findings from the focus groups were analyzed according to these key themes. Results The consultation highlighted important benefits of discussion with communities on research design, including providing new perspectives and helping to avoid harm. For example, people living with HIV felt that one of the possible logos could increase stigma within communities. The experience also indicated potential challenges of consultation. In particular, there were contrasting perspectives among the groups, such that the consultation did not provide a clear answer about which logo should be selected. Conclusions Our experience adds to current evidence on community engagement by reporting on an area where there is less discussion of community consultation for design of a study logo. The consultation exercise reaffirmed the value of community engagement, but also the difficulty of relying on a brief consultation for decision-making in research design. Further ethical guidance is required on how to negotiate contradictory views during consultations.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85055077170&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0205737
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0205737
M3 - Article
C2 - 30335816
AN - SCOPUS:85055077170
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 13
JO - PLoS ONE
JF - PLoS ONE
IS - 10
M1 - e0205737
ER -
