Project Staff

Abstract Background Recent arboviral disease outbreaks highlight the value a better understanding of the spread of disease-carrying mosquitoes across spatial-temporal scales can provide. Traditional surveillance tools are limited by jurisdictional boundaries, workforce constraints, logistics, and cost; factors that in low- and middle-income countries often conspire to undermine public health protection efforts. To overcome these, we undertake a pilot study designed to explore if citizen science provides a feasible strategy for arboviral vector surveillance in small developing Pacific island contexts. Methods We recruited, trained, and equipped community volunteers to trap and type mosquitos within their household settings, and to report count data to a central authority by short-message-service. Mosquito catches were independently assessed to measure participants’ mosquito identification accuracy. Other data were collected to measure the frequency and stability of reporting, and volunteers’ experiences. Results Participants collected data for 78.3% of the study period, and agreement between the volunteer citizen scientists’ and the reviewing entomologist’s mosquito identification was 94%. Opportunity to contribute to a project of social benefit, the chance to learn new skills, and the frequency of engagement with project staff were prime motivators for participation. Unstable electricity supply (required to run the trap’s fan), insufficient personal finances (to buy electricity and phone credit), and inconvenience were identified as barriers to sustained participation. Conclusions While there are challenges to address, our findings suggest that citizen science offers an opportunity to overcome the human resource constraints that conspire to limit health authorities’ capacity to monitor arboviral vectors across populations. We note that the success of citizen science-based surveillance is dependent on the appropriate selection of equipment and participants, and the quality of engagement and support provided.

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Citizen Science, Communication, and Expertise: An Examination of the Port Townsend Marine Science Center's Plastics Project

10.31230/osf.io/ehqrc ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Nicholas Wehner

Keyword(s):

Consumer Behavior ◽

Citizen Science ◽

Science Communication ◽

Puget Sound ◽

Marine Debris ◽

Communication Media ◽

Marine Science ◽

Project Staff ◽

Educational Benefits ◽

Science Projects

Citizen science projects have the opportunity to educate participants about environmental issues being studied first-hand and often in the field. The Port Townsend Marine Science Center’s Plastics Project utilized volunteers to collect and sort through samples of sand on beaches to estimate the abundance of plastic marine debris on beaches throughout the Puget Sound of Washington State. Volunteers were surveyed to determine if educational benefits were evident, if participants were educating others and with what frequency, what communication media were used and preferred, and who participants identified as experts. All participants reported being better educated about plastic marine and most reported changes in their consumer behavior. Participants who educated others on a regular basis also attended environmental and plastic marine debris-focused events, and interacted with experts regularly. No other demographic variables examined were able to distinguish more active educators from less active. Participants used and preferred email and in-person communication media while social media and postal mail were among the least utilized. Participants identified a wide array of experts, including university scientists and Plastics Project staff. Citizen science projects may be beneficial at inducing consumer behavior changes and educating participants, and should take care to explore lectures and other in-person communication approaches to increase opportunities for learning. Participants’ wide perception of expertise should be taken advantage of to increase opportunities for participant-expert interaction and address participant questions and concerns.

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Egypt: Encourage journalists to cover reproductive health

10.31899/rh2000.1029 ◽

2000 ◽

Author(s):

Keyword(s):

Reproductive Health ◽

Public Awareness ◽

Accurate Information ◽

Project Staff ◽

Marriage Patterns ◽

Health Agencies ◽

The Press ◽

Research Findings ◽

Regular Flow ◽

Evaluation Sheet

To raise public awareness of reproductive health (RH) issues, the Population Council’s Frontiers project and the Futures Group’s Policy project jointly organized four press briefings and provided background materials to key journalists from Arabic newspapers and magazines. From May 1999 to June 2000, project staff worked closely with 20 Egyptian journalists, including editors of women’s pages and senior editors. The press briefings covered youth, marriage patterns, contraceptive technology, and menopause. The press kit prepared for each briefing contained fact sheets, reference materials, a contact list of key experts, and an evaluation sheet. To assess RH reporting and track coverage resulting from the intervention, project staff monitored eight major Arabic newspapers and nine magazines daily. All articles on RH were coded according to their topic, length, and use of research findings. As noted in this brief, after Egyptian print journalists attended briefings on RH issues, their reporting of these issues improved. Health agencies can improve coverage of RH issues by providing a regular flow of accurate information to a broad range of journalists.

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Indonesia: Train journalists to write about reproductive health

10.31899/rh2001.1016 ◽

2001 ◽

Author(s):

Keyword(s):

Reproductive Health ◽

Media Coverage ◽

Background Information ◽

Government Control ◽

Project Staff ◽

News Stories ◽

Research Findings ◽

The Media ◽

And Training

After government control over the media was liberalized in 1998, Indonesian journalists had a new mandate to explore new issues and foster public debate. Several studies had found evidence that women’s health worsened from 1997–99, yet media coverage of this topic was limited. To increase press coverage of reproductive health (RH) topics, the Population Council conducted an 18-month media project in collaboration with the State Ministry for Women’s Empowerment and other key agencies. The project focused on improving RH knowledge and reporting skills among 22 print journalists. Project staff monitored RH coverage in 22 major newspapers, magazines, and tabloids. After Indonesian journalists received background information and training on RH issues, the quality of their coverage improved. However, as noted in this brief, continued efforts are needed to provide media representatives with ideas for news stories and feature articles and training in use of research findings.

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Community-based aquaculture in northern uplands of Vietnam - emphasis on women's involvement.

10.1079/ac.87951.20203483614 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Md. Kibria

Keyword(s):

Rural Development ◽

Local Population ◽

Development Program ◽

Vital Role ◽

Household Food Security ◽

United Nations Development Program ◽

Project Staff ◽

Security Issues ◽

Food And Agriculture ◽

Food And Agriculture Organization

Abstract The project titled "Aquaculture Development in Northern Uplands" (VIE/98/009/01/NEX) aimed during 1999-2002 at alleviating poverty in three provinces by diversifying rural development through the promotion of sustainable aquaculture activities, building capacity of the local population and project staff to address household food security issues, and reducing malnutrition of disadvantaged ethnic minorities (Dao, Hmong, Kinh, Tay but mostly Black Thai). The project stressed strengthening an extension network and improvement of seed production and its delivery system among the target groups in remote areas. Moreover, it gave high priority to gender education and women's involvement in all activities. The project was implemented by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), provincial Departments of Agriculture and Rural Development in Hoa Binh, Lai Chau and Son La, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) in cooperation with the Vietnam Ministry of Fisheries (MOFI). It was found through a field study among project beneficiaries that women play a vital role in aquaculture activities, although they are not involved in any activity without the support of men.

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Can Organic Agriculture Feed the Smallholders? Experience from Rural Bangladesh

Asia-Pacific Journal of Rural Development ◽

10.1177/24551333211036938 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 31 (1) ◽

pp. 91-107

Author(s):

M. A. Sarker ◽

M. Hoque ◽

A. H. Chowdhury ◽

Z. Ferdous

Keyword(s):

Food Security ◽

Organic Agriculture ◽

Smallholder Farmers ◽

Farm Size ◽

Household Food Security ◽

Farm Income ◽

Base Line ◽

Project Staff ◽

Household Food ◽

Safe Food

This study empirically tests the benefit of the smallholders from organic farming in Bangladesh through their improved food security which is realised from their increased productivity and farm income. The respondent smallholders were picked up from two districts of Bangladesh namely Mymensingh and Bogra. The respondents (80) were the beneficiaries of the organic agriculture promotion project of Bangladesh Agricultural University. Three years data were collected by the project staff and were crosschecked with the base line. Findings of the study explored that before joining with the project extreme majority (93%) of the small farmers were involved in rice mono-culture and more than half (67%) of them were food deficit. The study also revealed that at the initial year of joining organic agriculture project their farm productivity was 10–12% lesser and it increased continually in the successive years. In some cases, it crossed the yield compared to conventional farming. The findings of the study showed that 100% of the farmers have followed crop diversification with high value vegetables and spices along with rice. Due to adoption of organic practices, the cost of production of the smallholders has declined from 27% to 36% and additionally they enjoy 10% to 15% premium prices which have enhanced their farm income significantly. The study shows that 62.5% of the smallholder farmers had attained household food security due to adoption of organic agriculture. Thus, adoption of organic agriculture effectively increased smallholders’ access to surplus safe food. However, the study also explored that farm size, extension media contact, access to assured market and access to institutional support are the most important factors in improving smallholders’ household food security through participation in organic agriculture programme. Thus, it can be concluded that organic agriculture can feed the smallholders in a better way.

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Home Care for Children Dying of Cancer

PEDIATRICS ◽

10.1542/peds.62.1.106 ◽

1978 ◽

Vol 62 (1) ◽

pp. 106-113

Author(s):

Ida M. Martinson ◽

Gordon D. Armstrong ◽

Dorothy P. Geis ◽

Mary Ann Anglim ◽

Evangeline C. Gronseth ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Home Care ◽

Special Functions ◽

Staff Nurses ◽

Children With Cancer ◽

Project Staff ◽

Public Health Agencies ◽

Nursing Services ◽

Health Agencies ◽

The Family ◽

Home Care Nurses

Hospitals have traditionally provided the setting for the treatment of children with cancer, including those in the terminal stage of their illness. However, when treatment that requires hospitalization has been discontinued and the child's cancer is still not under control, then the wisdom of continued hospitalization is questionable. If the care that is required by the patient could be provided as effectively by the parents and by nurses at home, then it would be reasonable to make a home care option available to the families who desired it. The possible advantages of such home care would be improved satisfaction of the child, better adjustment to the situation by the family, and reduced cost. It is more comforting to the child to be in familiar surroundings with the parents at hand during the terminal stages of his or her illness. Most of the specialized and expensive sive facilities provided by the hospital are no longer needed by the child. The preliminary findings from a research project dealing with home care of children with cancer are reported in this article. The feasibility and desirability of the home as an alternative to the hospital for children whose death from cancer was impending were examined. Administration of the home nursing service was at the time of the study separate from existing nursing services. Home care nurses were hired on an hourly basis and were recruited from hospitals and public health agencies. Two project staff nurses oriented the home care nurses to the special functions that they would serve, and also provided consultation and some of the actual home care.

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Evaluation of the Community Access to Child Health Program

PEDIATRICS ◽

10.1542/peds.103.s4.1384 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 103 (Supplement_4) ◽

pp. 1384-1393

Author(s):

Cynthia Minkovitz ◽

Holly Grason ◽

Barbara Aliza ◽

Vince Hutchins ◽

Lucia Rojas-Smith ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Child Health ◽

Child Health Services ◽

Minority Population ◽

Project Staff ◽

Community Factors ◽

Public Health Agencies ◽

Attitudinal Barriers ◽

Negative Perceptions ◽

Community Access

Objective. Increasing attention is being focused on the need for pediatricians to promote child health in their respective communities. The objective of this study was to evaluate, retrospectively, the American Academy of Pediatrics' Community Access to Child Health (CATCH) Program. Study Design. Case studies of 12 Community Pediatric projects in existence from 1989 to 1995 with varying degrees of involvement in the CATCH Program. In-person interviews were conducted with 17 pediatricians, 3 CATCH leaders who were not pediatricians, 27 project advisory committee members, 42 project staff, 47 community partners, 22 public health representatives, and personnel in 13 affiliated institutions. Results. These projects established or enhanced child health services. Although most pediatricians' interest in community child health preceded CATCH, mentoring, training, and peer support contributed to ongoing involvement. Community factors that facilitated project development included historical collaborative efforts and active public health agencies. However, across sites, significant barriers related to attitude and resource limitations were noted. Attitudinal barriers included both institutional concerns (eg, competition among providers or distrust among community agencies and organizations) and cultural concerns (eg, general negative perceptions of providers about Medicaid beneficiaries or of members of minority population toward medical or government establishments). Conclusions. In an era of devolution of responsibility to local communities, there are likely to be more opportunities for pediatricians to work with community members to promote child health. Specific strategies should be refined and expanded to support pediatricians' involvement in community-based activities, particularly because it is recognized that insurance alone will not guarantee children's health.

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PROJECT STAFF

The Work ◽

10.1515/9783035622805-181 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 629-629

Keyword(s):

Project Staff

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Evaluating Computer-Supported Learning Initiatives

Online and Distance Learning ◽

10.4018/978-1-59904-935-9.ch247 ◽

2011 ◽

pp. 3028-3034

Author(s):

John B. Nash ◽

Christoph Richter ◽

Heidrun Allert

Keyword(s):

Learning Environments ◽

Formative Evaluation ◽

Development Stage ◽

Project Teams ◽

Crucial Importance ◽

Theoretical Frameworks ◽

Project Staff ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Effective Part ◽

Evaluation Approaches

The call for the integration of program evaluation into the development of computer-supported learning environments is ever increasing. Pushed not only by demands from policy makers and grant givers for more accountability within lean times, this trend is due also to the fact that outcomes of computer-supported learning environment projects often fall short of the expectations held by the project teams. The discrepancy between the targets set by the project staff and the outcomes achieved suggests there is a need for formative evaluation approaches (versus summative approaches) that facilitate the elicitation of information that can be used to improve a program while it is in its development stage (c.p., Worthen, Sanders & Fitzpatrick, 1997). While the call for formative evaluation as an integral part of projects that aim to develop complex socio-technical systems is widely accepted, we note a lack of theoretical frameworks that reflect the particularities of these kind of systems and the ways they evolve (c.p., Keil-Slawik, 1999). This is of crucial importance, as formative evaluation will only be an accepted and effective part of a project if it provides information useful for the project staff. Below we outline the obstacles evaluation faces with regard to projects that design computer-supported learning environments, and discuss two promising approaches that can be used in complimentary fashion.

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