Changing Focus: Exploring Images of Women and Empowerment in Egypt

In moving away from prescriptive one?way communications exercises, participatory development communications use better strategies to engage communities and capture nuance. This article examines a communications case study in Egypt: a photography competition aimed at understanding how local photographers depict women and empowerment in their images. Opportunities for discussion and self?reflection provide cultural producers the space to delve into how they see women and how they then choose to represent them. This type of communications initiative actively courts a richer understanding of empowerment, leaving room for the complexities this might entail

Cash Transfers and Parent-Child Interaction

Differences in academic achievement between high and low socioeconomic status (SES) children arise at a very early age. Examining the factors that give rise to these differences is essential for understanding the intergenerational transmission of poverty. This project tests the idea that the psychological experience of poverty leads parents to engage less with their young children, hampering early child development. We focus on parents’ verbal interactions with children, which differ markedly by SES in observational data, and are the most prominent proxy for parental engagement in developmental psychology. We leverage a cash transfer intervention among households in Northern California to examine how alleviating financial constraints impacts verbal interactions within the household

Bioethics training programmes for Africa: evaluating professional and bioethics-related achievements of African trainees after a decade of Fogarty NIH investment

Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/ RESULTS: Post-training, respondents were significantly more likely to report serving in a leadership role, being an investigator on a research grant, serving on international committees, serving as a mentor, and publishing manuscripts than at pretraining. Post-training, significantly greater numbers of respondents reported bioethics-related achievements including being a bioethics instructor, serving on an Institutional Review Board (IRB), being an investigator on a bioethics grant and publishing bioethics-related manuscripts than pretraining. Controlling for other factors, there were no significant differences by gender in the post-training success of these participants in terms of leadership roles, being instructors, investigators on grants and holding IRB roles.CONCLUSIONS: African trainees who participated in FBTPs reported significantly higher levels of professional achievement after training. There was no single factor-either demographic, related to a trainee\u27s professional background, or in programme design-that consistently predicted greater levels of post-training achievement.OBJECTIVES: Our primary aim was to evaluate the impact of US National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded bioethics training programmes (Fogarty bioethics training programmes, FBTPs) that trained individuals from Africa over the programme\u27s first 10 years to examine changes between pretraining and post-training in individual achievement and to document any associations between individual, training programme and post-training accomplishments.DESIGN: We surveyed trainees from the 10 bioethics programmes funded by NIH Fogarty International Center from 2000 to 2011 that included African trainees. McNemar\u27s and Wilcoxon signed rank-sum tests were used to analyse pre-post levels of general and bioethics-related professional achievement. Likelihood of specific post-training achievement outcomes was measured using logistic regression including demographic, pretraining and intratraining variables.SETTING: 10 different FBTPs that trained individuals from Africa from 2000 to 2011.PARTICIPANTS: Of 253 eligible respondents, 171 completed the survey (response rate 67.6%).PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Pre-post comparisons of professional achievement indicators (eg, serving in leadership roles, teaching, publishing manuscripts); likelihood of specific post-training achievement outcomes

The features and qualities of online training modules in research ethics: a case study evaluating their institutional application for the University of Botswana

Research ethics remains a cornerstone of the scientific enterprise as it defines the boundaries of responsible conduct of research. Our aim was to systematically identify, review and test online training courses in research ethics which could be considered most appropriate for future training at the University of Botswana (UB). We used an evaluative tool that included both descriptive and evaluative criteria for assessing the strengths, weaknesses and appropriateness of 10 online research ethics courses which are publicly accessible. We then assembled Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) to engage the UB community to select the best 2–3 online courses that are considered most suited for use in future training of research ethics at UB. Twenty respondents participated in three FGDs. Our findings show that there is limited research ethics training capacity in low resourced academic institutions like UB. Online training opportunities could be used to address this challenge. Our analysis reveal that out of the 10 online courses reviewed, CITI program, Family Health International, and Training and Resource in Research Ethics Evaluation have characteristics that would make them suitable for utilization in Botswana. We believe the findings from this case study will be of value to other similarly situated research institutions

Ethics challenges and guidance related to research involving adolescent post-abortion care: a scoping review

Abstract Introduction An increase in post abortion care (PAC) research with adolescents, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, has brought to attention several associated research ethics challenges. In order to better understand the ethics context of PAC research with adolescents, we conducted a scoping review of published literature. Methods Following a systematic search of PubMed, HINARI, and Google Scholar, we analysed articles meeting inclusion criteria to determine common themes across both the ethical challenges related to PAC research with adolescents and any available guidance on the identified challenges. Results The literature search identified an initial 3321 records of which 14 were included in analysis following screening. Several ethical challenges stem from abortion being a controversial, sensitive, and stigmatized topic in many settings. Ethical dilemmas experienced by researchers conducting adolescent PAC research included: difficulties in convincing local health providers to permit PAC research; challenges in recruiting and seeking consent due to sensitivity of the subject; effectively protecting confidentiality; managing negative effects of interventions; creating a non-prejudicial atmosphere for research; managing emotional issues among adolescents; and dealing with uncertainty regarding the role of researchers when observing unethical health care practices. Suggested strategies for addressing some of these challenges include: using several sources to recruit study participants, using research to facilitate dialogue on abortion, briefing health workers on any observed unethical practices after data collection, fostering a comprehensive understanding of contextual norms and values, selecting staff with experience working with study populations, and avoiding collection of personal identifiers. Conclusion Addressing ethical challenges that researchers face when conducting PAC research with adolescents requires guidance at the individual, institutional, community, and international levels. Overall, despite the documentation of challenges in the published literature, guidance on handling several of these ethics challenges is sparse. We encourage further research to clarify the identified challenges and support the development of formal guidance in this area

Ethical challenges in research on post-abortion care with adolescents: experiences of researchers in Zambia

Post-abortion care (PAC) research is increasingly being conducted in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to help reduce the high burden of unsafe abortion. This study aims to help address the evidence gap about ethical challenges that researchers in LMICs face when carrying out PAC research with adolescents. Employing an explorative qualitative approach, the study identified several ethics challenges encountered by PAC researchers in Zambia, including those associated with seeking ethics and regulatory approvals at institutional and national levels. Persistent stigma around abortion and community perceptions that PAC studies encourage adolescents to seek abortion affected adolescents’ right to exercise their autonomy and to make decisions as well as exposed adolescents to social stigmatization risks. Challenges with recruitment was reported to result in abandoning of studies, thereby undermining development of PAC services that are more responsive to adolescent needs. Training needs identified included knowledge of best practices for conducting and disseminating PAC research. Strategies for addressing the ethical challenges included trust building and using less value-laden terminology when seeking permission and consent. It is essential to the future of PAC research in Zambia and globally that these important challenges be addressed through the development of comprehensive ethics guidance

Exploring Institutional Research Ethics Systems: A Case Study From Uganda

© 2015, Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. Background: The increasing globalization of research drives a need for greater research ethics capacity in low resource countries. Several programs have attempted to expand research ethics capacity by training individuals, but few have focused on broader research ethics systems and institutions. This study describes and applies an institutional research ethics model to assess the institutional research ethics capacity of Makerere University College of Heath Sciences (MakCHS) in 2011. Methods: Internal and external stakeholders conducted the assessment of MakCHS using the multidimensional Octagon framework. Five methods were used to collect data on current ethical processes and institutional relationships. Results: MakCHS scored in the mid range on all Octagon domains, with some variation between external and internal assessments. The external Octagon scores suggest that MakCHS\u27s areas of strengths are in identity, structure, relevance, target groups, and working environment; needs are greater in the areas of production, competence, and systems of finance and administration. Discrepancies in external and internal assessment can serve as a useful platform to shape ongoing discussions and strategic efforts. Conclusions: The assessment identified strengths, opportunities, and challenges for institutional research ethics capacity at MakCHS. We believe this systematic approach was helpful in evaluating research ethics needs and provides a benchmark for institutions to measure progress over time

Modularity of the Bacterial Cell Cycle Enables Independent Spatial and Temporal Control of DNA Replication

Background: Complex regulatory circuits in biology are often built of simpler subcircuits or modules. In most cases, the functional consequences and evolutionary origins of modularity remain poorly defined. Results: Here, by combining single-cell microscopy with genetic approaches, we demonstrate that two separable modules independently govern the temporal and spatial control of DNA replication in the asymmetrically dividing bacterium Caulobacter crescentus. DNA replication control involves DnaA, which promotes initiation, and CtrA, which silences initiation. We show that oscillations in DnaA activity dictate the periodicity of replication while CtrA governs the asymmetric replicative fates of daughter cells. Importantly, we demonstrate that DnaA activity oscillates independently of CtrA. Conclusions: The genetic separability of spatial and temporal control modules in Caulobacter reflects their evolutionary history. DnaA is the central component of an ancient and phylogenetically widespread circuit that governs replication periodicity in Caulobacter and most other bacteria. By contrast, CtrA, which is found only in the asymmetrically dividing α-proteobacteria, was integrated later in evolution to enforce replicative asymmetry on daughter cells.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant 5R01GM082899