Abstract #122  -  Taking Seriously Our Obligations to Share Research Results: One Approach to Knowledge Transfer and Exchange with Adolescents
Authors:   Presenting Author:   Ms Marisa Casale - HEARD
Additional Authors:  Dr Stephanie  Nixon, Dr Sarah Flicker, Mr  Michael Rogan,
Aim: This presentation describes a novel approach to reporting back research results to school-going adolescent participants of an HIV prevention programme evaluation, conducted in a poor urban area of Durban, South Africa. Our objective is to reflect critically on our dissemination strategy, in order to advance the fields of (a) knowledge transfer and exchange (KTE) and (b) research ethics.
Method / Issue: In November 2008 we reported back results of a self-administered demographic and sexual health survey, conducted in February 2008 with 809 Grade 11 learners in four schools. We decided to adopt an approach that both provided broader factual information on HIV and employed creative communication methods to ensure the youth’s attention. We embedded school-level survey results within HIV prevention and health messaging, through: interactive classroom sessions; dissemination booklets, distributed to all learners; and colour posters displayed in the schools. The classroom sessions were conducted in the local language (isiZulu) by bilingual field research assistants and guided by a script which had been developed collaboratively by the research team. Sessions included questions and guessing games, to test learners’ knowledge on themes covered and keep their interest. We aimed to correct myths and factual mis-information, as well as provide a forum for discussion and engagement with results. The English and isiZulu feedback booklets were short and targeted; they included HIV prevention information and contacts for health support resources.
Results / Comments: “Shared ownership of results”, which is a tenet of KTE, was achieved through nesting the survey results in the interactive guessing game scenario. Young, experienced isiZulu facilitators added to the engagement of the youth. Youth were eager to express opinions and to correct each other’s knowledge around HIV and sexual health during report-back. However, ground rules were important for handling the sensitive nature of the topic, especially during the discussion of violence. The two-way exchange also held significant benefits for the researchers. Participants’ explanations of analyses served to enhance our understanding of why certain results were achieved. Boys’ and girls’ differing responses to and explanations for our results provided insight into the entrenched gendered positions amongst the youth. This experience also laid more favourable groundwork for future research with this community. Finally, this form of report-back session served to unearth novel research questions emerging from the youth themselves that we had not previously considered.
Discussion: The requirements of ethics review boards dictate that research results be shared with study participants, but there is little documented work on effective ways to achieve this. We note that there are many creative examples of survey result dissemination taking place, yet few have been written up in the literature to help guide others. By creatively expanding the potential for our report back sessions, we were able to take advantage of an opportunity for two-way information exchange. We hope this presentation will prompt further dialogue on practical strategies for more effectively feeding back research results to participants.
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