Initiating a network to support engagement between health researchers and schools: recommendations from an international meeting of schools engagement practitioners held in Kilifi, Kenya

Abstract

<ns4:p>Engagement between health researchers and local schools, or School Engagement, has become incorporated into the engagement strategies of many research institutions worldwide. Innovative initiatives have emerged within Wellcome Trust-funded African and Asian Programmes (APPs) and elsewhere, and continued funding from the Wellcome Trust and other funders is likely to catalyse further innovation. Engagement between <ns4:italic>scientists</ns4:italic> and schools is well-described in the scientific literature (1-4), however, engagement between <ns4:italic>health researchers</ns4:italic> and schools is much newer, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, and rarely documented. In November 2018 the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme (KWTRP) hosted an international workshop in Kilifi, Kenya, drawing on an emerging community of School Engagement practitioners towards exploring the broad range of goals for School Engagement, learning about the breadth of evaluation approaches and exploring the potential usefulness of establishing a practitioner network. The workshop was attended by 29 engagement researchers/practitioners representing 21 institutions from 10 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and South East Asia and the UK. Workshop sessions combining small group discussions with plenary presentations, enabled a range of goals, activities and evaluation approaches to be shared. This report summarises these discussions, and shares participant views on the possible functions of a network of School Engagement practitioners.</ns4:p><ns4:p> A breadth of ‘deep’ and ‘wide’ engagement activities were described addressing four broad goals: contributing to science education; capacity strengthening for health research; contributing to goals of community engagement; and health promotion. While wide approaches have greater outreach for raising student awareness, deeper approaches are more likely enable informed student views to be incorporated into research. All activities ultimately aimed at improving health, but also at supporting development in low- and middle-income countries through promoting science-career uptake. Participants identified a range of potential benefits which could emerge from a practitioner network: sharing experiences and resources; facilitating capacity strengthening; and fostering collaboration</ns4:p>

A youth advisory group on health and health research in rural Cambodia

“…Youth advisory groups for health and health research engagement are an important model which serves to achieve the intrinsic goals of CE (Davies et al, 2020 ; Dickert & Sugarman, 2005 ; Pratt, 2019 ). The “intrinsic” goals are independent of whether the community/YAGHRE is ancillary to specific health research.…”

“…New skills learnt by the students are an asset, some of which are likely to be retained for the future that included computer literacy and being able to carry out simple data analysis. Davies et al’s school engagement in Kenya has demonstrated the variety of impacts on students that ranged from learning new skills (such as photography and participatory video making) to pursuing a career in science (Davies, 2017 ; Davies et al, 2012 ). The skills and capacities developed by the YAGHRE members may serve their future career prospects.…”

“…The literature on engaging school students highlights the process and outcomes of such engagement (Davies et al, 2020 ; Pol et al, 2017 ). Participatory engagement processes have been described as addressing the core of CE: empowering community members to respond to the topic of concern and contribute to potential solutions relevant to their local context through action and reflection, rather than the traditional approach of outsiders introducing and imposing solutions to their problems (Baum et al, 2006 ; Callery et al, 2021 ).…”

“…The literature around engagement has shown how engaging school students who have a brief orientation to science in school can have manifold positive consequences (Davies et al, 2019 , 2020 ). In this article, we describe the establishment of a youth advisory group on health research and engagement (YAGHRE) in north-eastern Cambodia, their activities to date and outcomes achieved one year on.…”

Steps Toward Engagement Integrity: Learning From Participatory Visual Methods in Marginalized South African Communities

“…The distinctive video-making paths undertaken by the two groups reflected their differing circumstances, difficulties, priorities, and aspirations. The films proved to be effective tools for discussion and debate at all the events, underlining the advantages of participatory video approaches to engagement in health science research ( 30 ).…”