Three Tips for when Research Plans Change

Three Tips for when Research Plans Change

by Suzanna LarkinNo Comments
This summer, I embarked on a trip to the lakeside city of Kisumu, Kenya to work with Dr. Megan Huchko and the Center for Global Reproductive Health on the development of a survey tool to measure cervical cancer and HPV stigma among HIV-positive women and health care providers. The first step in the research study would involve in-depth interviews (IDIs) to develop a framework for our survey tool. In preparation during the spring semester, fellow researcher Emma Mehlhop (T’21) and I produced four IDI guides which would lead the interviewers through our exploratory questions, and we even attended a training on qualitative interviews. I was eager to see our preparatory work come to fruition during the summer, as I was certain the study would continue moving forward at our intended pace. When our study on cervical cancer stigma had hiccups with the IRB approval and left us unable to move forward with the IDIs, Emma and I joined another study --...
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Expect the Unexpected

Expect the Unexpected

by Andrea ChalemNo Comments
Exactly six weeks ago I spent my first full day in Kisumu, Kenya after a day’s worth of travel, an earlier than expected arrival, meeting my two Canadian housemates, and being so disoriented I didn’t even know where to get a meal or buy groceries. Now, with only two weeks of my time left, it’s almost laughable thinking back on how little I knew of how this city works. I now know which water to buy (the refillable 5L jugs with the handle), how much a tuk tuk from home to the office costs (100 KES, which is the equivalent of about 1 USD), and how to catch the best sunsets every night (rooftop of the building at our complex at 6:30pm). Despite my confusion on just about everything when I first arrived, the one thing I expected to be relatively straight forward was the research project I was set to be working on. I was told to be ready to...
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A Qualitative Research Training Session at the Center for Reproductive Health in Kisumu, Kenya

A Qualitative Research Training Session at the Center for Reproductive Health in Kisumu, Kenya

by Emma MehlhopNo Comments
Last week the office at the Duke Center for Reproductive Health in Kisumu held a two-day qualitative research training session led by facilitators Cyrilla Amanya and Muli Emmanuel from ACE, Africa. Attendees included the Duke Reproductive Health Center’s Kisumu staff, a DGHI master’s student, and members of the Duke Global Health Institute’s (DGHI) Student Research Training Program (SRT). The members of SRT (Andrea Chalem, Suzanna Larkin, and I) are here in Kisumu, Kenya for 8 weeks working on two different studies concerning cervical cancer awareness, screening, and prevention. Andrea is working on an mHealth study with Jacob Stocks, a master’s student at DGHI, and Suzanna and I are working on a stigma study. We used the In-Depth Interviews (IDIs) created for the stigma project as a jumping off point for discussion and role play during the qualitative training session. On day one, we learned helpful tips on how to make interviews conversational and comfortable for the participant. These included using the...
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Notes from the Field: “If only I stepped up to the gate of a school” life could have been better

by Faith OtewaNo Comments
Reproductive health remains a health problem in Sub-Saharan Africa, Kenya included. Unless efforts to reduce maternal and newborn mortality and morbidity, improving access to family planning, and preventing HIV infection are scaled up, the majority of Kenyans remain at risk for poor health outcomes. Women face unsafe abortions, early marriage, and various forms of gender-based violence. They suffer silently from sexually transmitted diseases that make them vulnerable to cervical cancer and infertility, without access to the simple preventive measures like screening and vaccination. My experience working directly in the community and in health facilities has given me the opportunity to interact with various partners and many disadvantaged young men and women. Listening to their stories of teenage pregnancy, their beliefs in myths related to use of contraception, and experiences with HIV has made me keen to understand and try to address issues related to reproductive health. I met "Aisha" (not her real name) when her child was enrolled in a study I...
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