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Evolution of a programme to engage school students with health research and science in Kenya.

ABSTRACT: Facilitating mutually-beneficial educational activities between researchers and school students is an increasingly popular way for research institutes to engage with communities who host health research, but these activities have rarely been formally examined as a community or public engagement approach in health research. The KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme (KWTRP) in Kilifi, Kenya, through a Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach involving students, teachers, researchers and education stakeholders, has incorporated 'school engagement' as a key component into their community engagement (CE) strategy. School engagement activities at KWTRP aim at strengthening the ethical practice of the institution in two ways: through promoting an interest in science and research among school students as a form of benefit-sharing; and through creating forums for dialogue aimed at promoting mutual understanding between researchers and school students. In this article, we provide a background of CE in Kilifi and describe the diverse ways in which health researchers have engaged with communities and schools in different parts of the world. We then describe the way in which the KWTRP school engagement programme (SEP) was developed and scaled-up. We conclude with a discussion about the challenges, benefits and lessons learnt from the SEP implementation and scale-up in Kilifi, which can inform the establishment of SEPs in other settings.

SUBMITTER: Davies A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6419976 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Evolution of a programme to engage school students with health research and science in Kenya.

Davies Alun A Mwangome Nancy N Yeri Betty B Mwango Grace G Mumba Noni N Marsh Vicki V Kamuya Dorcas D Molyneux Sassy S Kinyanjui Samson S Jones Caroline C

Wellcome open research 20190228

Facilitating mutually-beneficial educational activities between researchers and school students is an increasingly popular way for research institutes to engage with communities who host health research, but these activities have rarely been formally examined as a community or public engagement approach in health research. The KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme (KWTRP) in Kilifi, Kenya, through a Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach involving students, teachers, researchers and educ ...[more]

PMID: 30906884

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Project description:BackgroundHelminth (worm) infections cause morbidity among poor communities worldwide. An influential study conducted in Kenya in 1998-99 reported that a school-based drug-and-educational intervention had benefits regarding worm infections and school attendance. Effects were seen among children treated with deworming drugs, untreated children in intervention schools and children in nearby non-intervention schools. Combining these effects, the intervention was reported to increase school attendance by 7.5% in treated children. Effects on other outcomes (worm infections, anaemia, nutritional status and examination performance) were also investigated.MethodsIn this pure replication, we used data provided by the original authors to re-analyse the study according to their methods. We compared these results against those presented in the original paper.ResultsAlthough most results were reproduced as originally reported, we identified discrepancies of several types between the original findings and re-analysis. For worm infections, re-analysis showed reductions similar to those originally reported. For anaemia prevalence, in contrast to the original findings, re-analysis found no evidence of benefit. For nutritional status, both original findings and re-analysis described modest evidence for a small improvement. For school attendance, re-analysis showed benefits similar to those originally found in intervention schools for both children who did and those who did not receive deworming drugs. However, after correction of coding errors, there was little evidence of an indirect effect on school attendance among children in schools close to intervention schools. Combining these effects gave a total increase in attendance of 3.9% among treated children, which was no longer statistically significant. As in the original results, re-analysis found no effect of the intervention on examination performance.ConclusionsRe-applying analytical approaches originally used, but correcting various errors, we found little evidence for some previously-reported indirect effects of a deworming intervention. Effects on worm infections, nutritional status, examination performance and school attendance on children in intervention schools were largely unchanged.

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Evolution of a programme to engage school students with health research and science in Kenya.

Publications

Evolution of a programme to engage school students with health research and science in Kenya.

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