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Community engagement in research in sub-Saharan Africa: current practices, barriers, facilitators, ethical considerations and the role of gender - a systematic review

INTRODUCTION: meaningful community engagement is increasingly being considered the major determinant of successful research, innovation and intervention uptake. Even though there is available literature recommending community engagement in health research, there are still knowledge gaps in how commu...

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Autores principales: Bain, Luchuo Engelbert, Akondeng, Claudine, Njamnshi, Wepnyu Yembe, Mandi, Henshaw Eyambe, Amu, Hubert, Njamnshi, Alfred Kongnyu
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The African Field Epidemiology Network 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9922083/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36785694
http://dx.doi.org/10.11604/pamj.2022.43.152.36861
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author Bain, Luchuo Engelbert
Akondeng, Claudine
Njamnshi, Wepnyu Yembe
Mandi, Henshaw Eyambe
Amu, Hubert
Njamnshi, Alfred Kongnyu
author_facet Bain, Luchuo Engelbert
Akondeng, Claudine
Njamnshi, Wepnyu Yembe
Mandi, Henshaw Eyambe
Amu, Hubert
Njamnshi, Alfred Kongnyu
author_sort Bain, Luchuo Engelbert
collection PubMed
description INTRODUCTION: meaningful community engagement is increasingly being considered the major determinant of successful research, innovation and intervention uptake. Even though there is available literature recommending community engagement in health research, there are still knowledge gaps in how communities might be best engaged in Sub-Saharan Africa. We, therefore, synthesized the existing literature on the current practices, barriers and facilitators, ethical considerations, and gender mainstreaming in the engagement of communities in research in sub-Saharan Africa. METHODS: this synthesis was developed following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA). A combination of keywords and medical subject headings was used to search MEDLINE, EMBASE, Global Health Library through OVID SP, the Cochrane Library, PsychINFO, CINAHL, WHO Afro Library, WHO Global Index Medicus and the National Institute for Health Research, for all literature published between 1 January 2000 to 31 July 2021. RESULTS: thirty articles met our inclusion criteria. The key reported facilitators of effective community engagement in research included appropriate community entry and engagement of stakeholders. Barriers to effective community engagement in research included the availability of prohibitive cultural, historical and religious practices; geographical/spatial limitations, difficulties in planning and executing community engagement activities and communication barriers. Awareness creation and sensitization on the research through drama, social media, documentaries, and community durbars are some of the existing practices adopted in engaging communities in research. Gender mainstreaming was not considered appropriately in the engagement of communities in research, as only a few studies made provisions for gender considerations, and most of the time, interchanging gender for sex. Respect for autonomy, privacy and informed consent were the main ethical issues reported. CONCLUSION: gender mainstreaming and ethical standards were reported as important, but not explored in depth. Gender as a social construct needs to be carefully integrated in the entire research cycle. Clear ethical concerns within a research project have to be co-discussed by the research team, community members and potential research participants.
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spelling pubmed-99220832023-02-12 Community engagement in research in sub-Saharan Africa: current practices, barriers, facilitators, ethical considerations and the role of gender - a systematic review Bain, Luchuo Engelbert Akondeng, Claudine Njamnshi, Wepnyu Yembe Mandi, Henshaw Eyambe Amu, Hubert Njamnshi, Alfred Kongnyu Pan Afr Med J Review INTRODUCTION: meaningful community engagement is increasingly being considered the major determinant of successful research, innovation and intervention uptake. Even though there is available literature recommending community engagement in health research, there are still knowledge gaps in how communities might be best engaged in Sub-Saharan Africa. We, therefore, synthesized the existing literature on the current practices, barriers and facilitators, ethical considerations, and gender mainstreaming in the engagement of communities in research in sub-Saharan Africa. METHODS: this synthesis was developed following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA). A combination of keywords and medical subject headings was used to search MEDLINE, EMBASE, Global Health Library through OVID SP, the Cochrane Library, PsychINFO, CINAHL, WHO Afro Library, WHO Global Index Medicus and the National Institute for Health Research, for all literature published between 1 January 2000 to 31 July 2021. RESULTS: thirty articles met our inclusion criteria. The key reported facilitators of effective community engagement in research included appropriate community entry and engagement of stakeholders. Barriers to effective community engagement in research included the availability of prohibitive cultural, historical and religious practices; geographical/spatial limitations, difficulties in planning and executing community engagement activities and communication barriers. Awareness creation and sensitization on the research through drama, social media, documentaries, and community durbars are some of the existing practices adopted in engaging communities in research. Gender mainstreaming was not considered appropriately in the engagement of communities in research, as only a few studies made provisions for gender considerations, and most of the time, interchanging gender for sex. Respect for autonomy, privacy and informed consent were the main ethical issues reported. CONCLUSION: gender mainstreaming and ethical standards were reported as important, but not explored in depth. Gender as a social construct needs to be carefully integrated in the entire research cycle. Clear ethical concerns within a research project have to be co-discussed by the research team, community members and potential research participants. The African Field Epidemiology Network 2022-11-23 /pmc/articles/PMC9922083/ /pubmed/36785694 http://dx.doi.org/10.11604/pamj.2022.43.152.36861 Text en Copyright: Luchuo Engelbert Bain et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/The Pan African Medical Journal (ISSN: 1937-8688). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Review
Bain, Luchuo Engelbert
Akondeng, Claudine
Njamnshi, Wepnyu Yembe
Mandi, Henshaw Eyambe
Amu, Hubert
Njamnshi, Alfred Kongnyu
Community engagement in research in sub-Saharan Africa: current practices, barriers, facilitators, ethical considerations and the role of gender - a systematic review
title Community engagement in research in sub-Saharan Africa: current practices, barriers, facilitators, ethical considerations and the role of gender - a systematic review
title_full Community engagement in research in sub-Saharan Africa: current practices, barriers, facilitators, ethical considerations and the role of gender - a systematic review
title_fullStr Community engagement in research in sub-Saharan Africa: current practices, barriers, facilitators, ethical considerations and the role of gender - a systematic review
title_full_unstemmed Community engagement in research in sub-Saharan Africa: current practices, barriers, facilitators, ethical considerations and the role of gender - a systematic review
title_short Community engagement in research in sub-Saharan Africa: current practices, barriers, facilitators, ethical considerations and the role of gender - a systematic review
title_sort community engagement in research in sub-saharan africa: current practices, barriers, facilitators, ethical considerations and the role of gender - a systematic review
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9922083/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36785694
http://dx.doi.org/10.11604/pamj.2022.43.152.36861
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