Ethical, legal and social issues in the use of mobile technologies and archived cellphone data in the East African region: A Scoping Review (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliet Sekandi ◽  
Kenya Murray ◽  
Corinne Berryman ◽  
Paula Davis-Olwell ◽  
Caroline Hurst ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Mobile Phone ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
Health Research ◽  
Public Health Research ◽  
Mobile Technologies ◽  
Mobile Phone Data ◽  
East African ◽  
African Region ◽  
East African Region

BACKGROUND Mobile phone adoption and the implementation of mobile health (mHealth) interventions to overcome health system challenges is on the rise in Africa and elsewhere in the world. Data derived from mobile phones hold great promise for transforming healthcare delivery and public health research. To date, little is known about the ethical, legal and social concerns related to the use of these data in Africa. OBJECTIVE We conducted a scoping review to explore the existing literature in order to understand the current ethical issues that arise when using mobile technology interventions and call detail records for public health research in the context of East Africa. METHODS We searched PubMed database for published studies describing ethical challenges while using mobile technologies and data in public health research between 2000 and 2020. A predefined search strategy was used as inclusion criteria with search terms such as “East Africa”, “mHealth”, “mobile phone data”, “public health”, “ethics”, or “privacy”. We followed five stages of a published framework for scoping reviews by Arksey and O’Malley. These stages include: (1) identifying the research question; (2) identifying relevant studies; (3) study selection; (4) charting the data; and (5) collating, summarizing, and reporting the results. Studies were screened using pre-specified eligibility criteria through a two-stage process by two independent reviewers. Data extracted included title, publication year, target population, geographic region, setting, and relevance to mHealth and ethics. RESULTS Of the 94 studies identified from PubMed, 33 met the review inclusion criteria for the final scoping review. The included studies were conducted in three out of five countries in the East African Community. Five themes emerged as major concerns for using mHealth interventions and mobile phone data: privacy and confidentiality, data security and protection concerns, sociocultural issues, regulatory and legal and, adequate informed consent process. CONCLUSIONS This scoping review identified major crosscutting concerns related to use of mobile technologies and mobile phone data common to the East African region. A comprehensive framework that accounts for ethical, sociocultural, legal and regulatory concerns and, adequate consent process is needed to guide the safe use of mobile technology data for public health research purposes.

scholarly journals Linking fathers and children in administrative data for public health research: a systematic scoping review

The Lancet ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 398 ◽  
pp. S5
Author(s):  
Irina Lut ◽  
Katie Harron ◽  
Pia Hardelid ◽  
Margaret O'Brien ◽  
Jenny Woodman
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Administrative Data ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
Health Research ◽  
Public Health Research

scholarly journals A scoping review of the use of Twitter for public health research

2020 ◽  
Vol 122 ◽  
pp. 103770 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oduwa Edo-Osagie ◽  
Beatriz De La Iglesia ◽  
Iain Lake ◽  
Obaghe Edeghere
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
Health Research ◽  
Public Health Research

scholarly journals Diverse Approaches to Creating and Using Causal Loop Diagrams in Public Health Research: Recommendations From a Scoping Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lori Baugh Littlejohns ◽  
Carly Hill ◽  
Cory Neudorf
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
Health Research ◽  
Journal Article ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Group Processes ◽  
Public Health Research ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Causal Loop ◽  
Causal Loop Diagrams

Objectives: Complex systems thinking methods are increasingly called for and used as analytical lenses in public health research. The use of qualitative system mapping and in particular, causal loop diagrams (CLDs) is described as one promising method or tool. To our knowledge there are no published literature reviews that synthesize public health research regarding how CLDs are created and used.Methods: We conducted a scoping review to address this gap in the public health literature. Inclusion criteria included: 1) focused on public health research, 2) peer reviewed journal article, 3) described and/or created a CLD, and 4) published in English from January 2018 to March 2021. Twenty-three articles were selected from the search strategy.Results: CLDs were described as a new tool and were based upon primary and secondary data, researcher driven and group processes, and numerous data analysis methods and frameworks. Intended uses of CLDs ranged from illustrating complexity to informing policy and practice.Conclusion: From our learnings we propose nine recommendations for building knowledge and skill in creating and using CLDs for future public health research.

scholarly journals Implications for public health research of models and theories of disability: a scoping study and evidence synthesis

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (8) ◽  
pp. 1-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Berghs ◽  
Karl Atkin ◽  
Hilary Graham ◽  
Chris Hatton ◽  
Carol Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
Health Research ◽  
Decision Aid ◽  
Public Health Research ◽  
Health Interventions ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Disabled People ◽  
Public Health Interventions ◽  
Models Of Disability

BackgroundPublic health interventions that are effective in the general population are often assumed to apply to people with impairments. However, the evidence to support this is limited and hence there is a need for public health research to take a more explicit account of disability and the perspectives of people with impairments.Objectives(1) To examine the literature on theories and models of disability; (2) to assess whether or not, and how, intervention studies of effectiveness could incorporate more inclusive approaches that are consistent with these theories and models; and (3) to use the findings to draw out implications for improving evaluative study designs and evidence-based practice.Review methodsThe project is a scoping review of the literature. The first stage examines theories and models of disability and reflects on possible connections between theories of disability and public health paradigms. This discussion is used to develop an ethical–empirical decision aid/checklist, informed by a human rights approach to disability and ecological approaches to public health. We apply this decision aid in the second stage of the review to evaluate the extent to which the 30 generic public health reviews of interventions and the 30 disability-specific public health interventions include the diverse experiences of disability. Five deliberation panels were also organised to further refine the decision aid: one with health-care professionals and four with politically and socially active disabled people.ResultsThe evidence from the review indicated that there has been limited public health engagement with theories and models of disability. Outcome measures were often insensitive to the experiences of disability. Even when disabled people were included, studies rarely engaged with their experiences in any meaningful way. More inclusive research should reflect how people live and ‘flourish’ with disability.LimitationsThe scoping review provides a broad appraisal of a particular field. It generates ideas for future practice rather than a definite framework for action.ConclusionsOur ethical–empirical decision aid offers a critical framework with which to evaluate current research practice. It also offers a resource for promoting more ethical and evidence-based public health research that is methodologically robust while being sensitive to the experiences of disability.Future workDeveloping more inclusive research and interventions that avoid conceptualising disability as either a ‘burden’ or ‘problem’ is an important starting point. This includes exploring ways of refining and validating current common outcome measures to ensure that they capture a diverse range of disabling experiences, as well as generating evidence on meaningful ways of engaging a broad range of disabled children and adults in the research process.FundingThe National Institute for Health Research Public Health Research programme.

scholarly journals Automatic, wearable-based, in-field eating detection approaches for public health research: a scoping review

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Brooke M. Bell ◽  
Ridwan Alam ◽  
Nabil Alshurafa ◽  
Edison Thomaz ◽  
Abu S. Mondol ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
Health Research ◽  
Public Health Research

scholarly journals Bioethics in Kenya: Who is Interested in Certificate Courses

2022 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-25
Author(s):  
Joy Waiharo ◽  
Caroline Kithinji ◽  
Mercy Mwakisha ◽  
Elizabeth Anne Bukusi
Keyword(s):  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Public Health Research ◽  
Biomedical Ethics ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Application Process ◽  
East African ◽  
African Region ◽  
Research Activities ◽  
East African Region ◽  
Ethics Courses

Inadequate training in matters of ethics renders health care providers unprepared for dilemmas faced in public health, research, and clinical practice. Certificate course training offer opportunities to gain more knowledge and skills on all matter ethics. Over the past decade, the increase in research activities in Kenya has not been proportionate to training in ethics. The centre of Biomedical Ethics and Culture (CBEC), Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) Bioethics training Initiative (CK-BTI) is a Forgaty funded program for building capacity in research ethics for Kenya and Pakistan. This paper evaluates the characteristics of participants that attended the CK-BTI certificate level courses in Kenya between 2017 to 2021. This data was analysed for this paper and utilized information from the training application process. Between November 2017 and July 2021, a total of 1,359 applications were received and 457 (33.6%) trained. The target countries were Kenya and Pakistan but interest was drawn from Tanzania, Uganda, Nigeria, and Zambia. The continued interest in the certificate level ethics courses may imply a need to increase the number of ethics training offered within the East African region.

scholarly journals Utilizing asynchronous email interviews for health research: overview of benefits and drawbacks

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Amri ◽  
Christina Angelakis ◽  
Dilani Logan
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
Data Quality ◽  
Health Research ◽  
Geographic Location ◽  
Public Health Research ◽  
Data Accuracy ◽  
Global Public Health ◽  
Snowball Sampling ◽  
Face To Face

Abstract Objective Through collating observations from various studies and complementing these findings with one author’s study, a detailed overview of the benefits and drawbacks of asynchronous email interviewing is provided. Through this overview, it is evident there is great potential for asynchronous email interviews in the broad field of health, particularly for studies drawing on expertise from participants in academia or professional settings, those across varied geographical settings (i.e. potential for global public health research), and/or in circumstances when face-to-face interactions are not possible (e.g. COVID-19). Results Benefits of asynchronous email interviewing and additional considerations for researchers are discussed around: (i) access transcending geographic location and during restricted face-to-face communications; (ii) feasibility and cost; (iii) sampling and inclusion of diverse participants; (iv) facilitating snowball sampling and increased transparency; (v) data collection with working professionals; (vi) anonymity; (vii) verification of participants; (viii) data quality and enhanced data accuracy; and (ix) overcoming language barriers. Similarly, potential drawbacks of asynchronous email interviews are also discussed with suggested remedies, which centre around: (i) time; (ii) participant verification and confidentiality; (iii) technology and sampling concerns; (iv) data quality and availability; and (v) need for enhanced clarity and precision.

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