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- ItemRestrictedKnowledge, Attitudes and Practices of Covid 19 Preventive Measures among Hypertension Patients at Monkey Bay Community Hospital, version 1.0(2022-08-17) Mwanamanga, Gideon; Lungu, Gaily; Chizimba, Dorothy; Kumfunda, VictorEXECUTIVE SUMMARY TYPE OF STUDY An exploratory quantitative study on knowledge, attitudes and practices of Covid-19 preventive measures among hypertensive patients at Monkey Bay community hospital PROBLEM STATEMENT Covid-19 is an acute respiratory disease in humans caused by corona virus 2 (SARS COV-2) and it is capable of causing severe symptoms and death. Evidence has shown that hypertension is one of the factors that affect Covid-19 disease severity. Several Covid-19 preventive measures are encouraged. However, little is known about the knowledge, attitude and practices of hypertensive clients on Covid-19 preventive measures since they are a high- risk group. This prompted us to conduct this study. STUDY OBJECTIVES Broad objective To assess the knowledge, attitude and practices of Covid -19 preventive measures among hypertension patients at Monkey-bay Community Hospital. Specific objectives To determine participants’ awareness of the Covid-19 preventive measures, To explore participants’ attitudes towards COVID-19 preventive measures To identify the preventive measures participants use in response to Covid-19. Significance of the study The study findings will isolate gaps existing on Covid -19 preventive measures thereby giving insight to health professionals to provide education and support on preventions of Covid -19 among hypertension clients. METHODOLOGY Study design The study will use quantitative approach design. Study setting Monkey-bay Community Hospital (MBCH)17-Aug-2022 9 Knowledge, attitudes and practices of Covid-19 preventive measures among hypertensive patients at Monkey Bay community hospital Study population and Sample size 65 clients with hypertension attending non communicable disease clinic at MBCH will be enrolled. Sampling method Convenient sampling method will be used Inclusion criteria Clients aged 18 years and beyond with hypertension who attend NCD clinic. Exclusion criteria Hypertension clients with other co-morbidities, age less than 18 years and in-patients will be excluded. Data collection instrument Structured interviewer administered questionnaire Pretesting Before data collection, the tool will be pretested on 6 clients attending hypertension clinic at Mangochi district hospital for usability. Data collection process Data will be collected after being granted permission from Mangochi DHO, MBCH and participants. A structured interviewer administered questionnaire will be used. Measures to prevent transmission of Covid-19 will be followed during data collection. Data management and storage Data will be cleaned, checked for completeness and entered into IBM SPSS Statistics 20 for analysis. Data analysis Analysis will be done using descriptive statistics and summarized by mean, percentage and frequency. The analyzed data will be organized and presented using tables, graphs and narrations accordingly. ETHICAL CONSIDERATION17-Aug-2022 10 Knowledge, attitudes and practices of Covid-19 preventive measures among hypertensive patients at Monkey Bay community hospital The study will be conducted after approval from College of Medicine research and Ethics Committee (COMREC). Permission to conduct the study at MBCH will be granted. Participants will be required to give both written and oral consent indicating their willingness to participate after understanding the purpose, significance, benefits and procedure of the study. The participants will be enrolled in this study on a voluntary basis. codes will be used instead of real names to protect the participants’ identity. DISSEMINATION OF RESULTS The findings will be presented in both local (Kamuzu University of Health Sciences) College of Nursing [KCN] research seminars and international conferences. Copies for the research findings will be placed at KUHeS, MCHS and MBCH libraries. CONCLUSION The findings of this study will help management of MBCH and MOH in strengthening COVID-19 preventive measures among hypertensive clients.
- ItemRestrictedFactors influencing COVID-19 vaccien uptake among rulral elderly population in Mangochi district, Malawi(Kamuzu University of Health Sciences, 2022-09-08) Rashid, Stanely; Kaluwa, Thandiwe; Mandala, Edna; Master, EltonType of study: The study will be quantitative and shall adopt a cross-sectional design The problem to be studied: Global statistics indicate over 218 million cases and 4.5 million deaths from Covid-19 were recorded by December 2021. Several preventive and containment measures were put in place including Covid-19 vaccine with at least 7,508,600,122 doses administered globally. Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy has been the main stumbling block in SubSaharan African countries including Malawi. Going by fully vaccination status data as of 20th January 2022, Botswana is at 45.9%, Nigeria, 2.5%, and Tanzania is at 2.3%. Malawi managed to fully vaccinate 3.5% of its population, and 5.4% has at least received a single dose of AstraZeneca vaccine by 16 November 2021. During the same period Mangochi district fully vaccinated 1.9% of its population despite the availability of both AstraZeneca and Jessen. It is undisputable fact that Covid-19 uptake has been poor in many parts of the continent down to the district level. Consumption of Covid-19 vaccine in Mangochi has been flat across all age groups including the elderly despite them being one of high-risk groups. Misinformation, ignorance, gender, sex, religion, and rates infection are said to influence Covid-19 vaccine uptake in many parts of the continent. Diffusion of innovation model highlights that adoption of any new idea (innovation) depends on characteristics of the innovation, communication channels, time and the nature of the social system. Once the uncertainties associated with a new behaviour or an innovation are resolved, implementation and adoption of innovation becomes easy. Objectives: The study aims to examine factors influencing Covid-19 vaccine uptake among rural elderly population in Mangochi. Specifically, the study seeks to; Establish proportion of Covid-19 vaccine uptake among elderly people in rural parts of Mangochi, assess factors associated with Covid-19 vaccine uptake among rural elderly population in Mangochi, determine strategies used in the course of Covid-19 administration in Mangochi. Methodology: The study will be conducted in rural parts of Mangochi where data will be collected and analysed quantitatively. A multi-stage sampling technique will be used to enroll study participants from randomly selected Traditional Authorities, Villages and households. Cochran’s formula will be used to calculate required sample size and later structured questionnaires will be administered to collect data from the interviewees. Data shall be entered into excel sheets, cleaned and will be analysed using SPSS version 22. A multivariate logistic regression will be run to determine associations. Ethical clearance will be sought from College of Medicine Ethics and Research Committee (COMREC) and permission to conduct the study has been obtained from Mangochi district hospital research committee. Participants will be informed of benefits and risks associated with the study and informed consent form will be signed. Participants identities will be protected by using codes and information provided will be treated with high level of confidentiality. Only participants who are 60 years of age and above and willing to take part in the study will be enrolled. Those that will be 60 years of age and above and not willing to take part will be excluded. Participants rights to quit at any stage will be reserved without attracting any penalties. 08-Sep-2022 10 Factors influencing COVID 19 vaccine uptake among rural elderly population in Mangochi Version 2.0 Expected findings: Covid-19 vaccine uptake among rural elderly population will be low despite them being one of the high-risk groups. Dissemination of results: The results of the study will be presented to Mangochi District Executive Committee (DEC), in research seminars, and be published in Malawi Medical Journal (MMJ). An end of study (close-out) report will be submitted to COMREC.
- ItemRestrictedFront-line research staff experiences when implementing hospital and community-based studies in Blantyre during the Covid-19 epidermic (EXPLORA), version 1.0(Kamuzu University of Health Sciences, 2022-08-05) Shumba, FlorenceType of study: A cross-sectional qualitative study. Problem statement: Front line research staff play a major role of ensuring that the collected data is credible and answering the research question. The coming of COVID -19 has affected study activities because of the measures imposed to prevent the spread of the virus. Experiences of front-line research staff on implementation of hospital and community-based studies in Malawi is not heard due to lack of information on the published data on the studies conducted in this area. Conducting a qualitative study aimed at exploring their work experience during the COVID - 19 pandemic will shed more light on the issues affecting their work. Most studies are focused on participant and stakeholders’ involvement in research projects but the views of the front - line research staff who play a major role in study activities are not heard(1). Main objective To assess the experiences of front-line research staff on study implementation during COVID-19 pandemic in KUHeS affiliates in Blantyre and explore strategies to be adopted in future pandemics. Specific objectives • To experiences of front-line research staff when recruiting and conducting follow-up of study participants during COVID -19 pandemic. • To explore recruitment and follow-up experiences of front-line research staff involved in various studies before and during the COVID -19 pandemic. • To compare recruitment and follow-up challenges experienced in clinic-based studies with those of community-based studies • To identify challenges in relation to the application of international research ethical standards into processes of recruiting and following up research participants i.e., CIOMS. Methodology The study will combine a cross-sectional and retrospective qualitative design to collect insights into the experiences of the researchers in the ongoing and completed studies. The use of a combined qualitative design will allow us to explore implementational challenges in studies that are currently active and those that have already completed data collection to determine and compare challenges during both peak and low as well as early and current Covid-19 period. Study participants will be purposively selected from both community and hospital-based studies to ensure representation of studies from each of the three KUHES affiliated research institutions. The study will be conducted at the premises of Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Programme, John Hopkins Project, and Blantyre Malaria Project. Expected findings and dissemination Information from a study conducted in the Caribbean during this period revealed that measures imposed to reduce the spread of the disease in different countries reduced rapport between front-line research staff and participants as face-to-face communication strengthened their relationship. The study will bring insight into the current issues at hand. The study findings will be presented during dissemination conferences at KUHES and other conferences. COMREC will also need a copy of the findings and the study findings will also disseminate during Project Progress Report (PPR) at Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Programme.
- ItemRestrictedEffects of Covid-19 on Family Planning among Adolescents who have given birth atleast once in Blantyre Urban(2022-07-22) Kapenda, Peter; Mulinde, Tendai; Nyalugwe, George; Kanyoma, OfferingsThis is a sequential mixed study investigating the effects of covid-19 on family planning among adolescents who have atleast given birth in blantyre urban. The problem of unmet needs for family planning among parous adolescents have remained high despite efforts to improve provision. This has led to high rate of unplanned pregnancies among adolescents. Therefore, this study will provide information on how covid-19 has affected family planning among parous adolescents of blantyre urban. Objectives and Methodologies The broad objective is to assess the effect of covid-19 on family planning among parous adolescents of blantyre urban and the specific objectives are; to asess distribution of family planning methods during and before the pandemic, to assess the accessibilty of family planning methods during the pandemic and before, assess adherence to family planning methods during the pandemic and before the pandemic. In this study, both qualitative and quantitative methods will be used and the study place will be four Government health centers. Quantitative data will be obtained from the clinic attendance registers. The sampling methods are simple random sampling and stratified sampling. The target population is parous adolescents in Blantyre urban. The age group is adolescents aged 15 to 19 years. Data collection will be through indepth interviews for the qualitative data and Government health centers (antennatal clinics) attendance registers for the quantitative data. Data will be analysed using content analysis. Expected findings and Dissemination At the end of this study, we expect to find how covid-19 has affected family planning among parous adolescents. This knowledge will help implementing measures that will ensure that11-Jul-2022 9 adolescents in Blantyre and Malawi as a whole have good access to family planning in prevention of unplanned pregnancies. Presentations will be through tables and graphs
- ItemRestrictedKnowledge, Attitude and Practices on Covid-19 Among Tertiary Level Students in Blantyre Urban(Kamuzu University of Health Sciences, 2022-06-02) Nyalungwe, Jimmy; Kapatamoyo, Clement; Ngwira, Pater; Silumbu, LusekeloThis is a quantitative cross-sectional study aimed at analyzing the relationship between knowledge, attitude and practices related to COVID-19 transmission and its prevention among tertiary level students in Blantyre urban. The study will specifically estimate the level of knowledge on COVID-19 among tertiary level students, assess their attitude and practices related to COVID-19 and also identify determinant factors that influence knowledge, attitude and practices towards COVID-19 among the students. The study will employ a two-stage sampling technique consisting of the selection of schools and students. The participating institutions will be selected using a simple cluster sampling approach, with participants from the schools being selected using a convenience method. Two institutions will be selected and used for the study with an appropriate sample size of 102 participants. Data will be collected through questionnaires and will be managed using password protected computers and analyzed using Microsoft excel spreadsheet and presented in form of graphs, proportions and tables. This study is expected to find disparities in knowledge, attitude and practices among the tertiary level students related to COVID-19 transmission and how those differences influence its prevention. The results will be presented on the 4th year research dissemination day in 2022/2023 academic year through student’s presentations. Results will also be submitted to College of Medicine Research Ethic Committee, the Health Sciences Research Committee. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY BROAD OBJECTIVES 1. To analyze the relationship between knowledge, attitude and practices related to covid 19 transmission and its prevention. SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE 1. To estimate the level of knowledge on COVID-19 among university school students 2. To assess attitudes and practices on COVID-19 among university school students 3. To identify determinant factors that influence knowledge, attitudes and practices related to COVID-19 4. To explore students’ perceptions on covid 19 vaccination METHODOLOGY TYPE OF STUDY DESIGN This is a quantitative cross sectional study design. Quantitative study because quantitative data collection instruments fit diversity and produce results that are easy to summarize, compare and generalize. A cross sectional study design will be used because multiple variables will be studied at the same time and data will be collected at one point in time. STUDY POPULATION This study will include KUHES and MUBAS students Inclusion criteria:Students that are above 18 years old will be eligible to participate in this study, irrespective of the year or program of study that they are enrolled in. Exclusion criteria: All those that are below 18 years of age and are not part of the designated institutions. STUDY PLACE The study will take place in KUHES and MUBAS Schools in Blantyre urban. We chose KUHES and MUBAS for the following reasons: • Students from these two institutions are a unique target population for our study because of their diversities in their cultural, social and traditional backgrounds. • They represent a group with different knowledge on health issues as KUHES is a medical university and MUBAS is not. • They can also be a source of increased health awareness and health education not only for themselves but also for those around them as they take part in the dissemination of pandemic-related knowledge supporting the prevention and control of the pandemic. • Ease of access and proximity as the two universities are near therefore reducing transport costs and minimizing our budget. SAMPLE SIZE The sample size for the study was calculated using the formula below: n=z2p(1-p) /e2 where: n = sample size for the study z = the coefficient at a given level of confidence, which we set, at 90% level of confidence, Z=1.65. p = the Prevalence, since it is unknown, we set it to 50% e = Margin of error (allowed error) which we set to 8.2% Calculations: n = 1.652 (0.5) (1-0.5) 0.0822 n = 2.7225(0.5) (1-0.5) 0.0822 n = 0.6806 0.0067 n=102 Our calculated sample size will be 102 participants, of which we will divide it by two so that each of the two institutions should have half of the total number of participants. Therefore, from each of the two institutions, there will be 51 participants. SAMPLING TECHNIQUE The study will adopt a two-stage sampling technique consisting of the selection of schools and students. For the primary sampling unit, the study will use simple cluster sampling based on the list of universities in Blantyre urban, two schools will be selected (using this primary technique we already selected KUHES and MUBAS). Within each selected school, sample of students will be selected using a non-probability sampling approach, namely convenience sampling. Reasons: • We employed cluster sampling method in this study because it allows reduced economy when carrying out research. • We also used the convenience approach because it is cheap and ease of accessibility and proximity of the study participants to the researcher. STUDY PERIOD The study will be done in a period of 6 weeks with first week being dedicated for seeking permission to conduct the study at the designated schools, then 3 weeks for data collection and analysis. After that a week will be dedicated for report preparation and submission and the other final week for dissemination of the results of the research at the students’ presentations. DATA COLLECTION Data will be collected by the investigators from the designated schools in a period of 2 weeks. Self-administered questionnaires will be used to obtain data from participants. It includes multiple choice questions and Likert scales. DATA MANAGEMENT, ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION Data will be transcribed from the questionnaires into Microsoft excel sheet and epi info 7. It is from the excel sheet and epi info 7 where all analysis will be derived to calculate descriptive statistics such as counts and percentages to show socio- demographic characteristics. Pearson product moment correlation will be used to establish relationships between knowledge, attitudes and practices. Data results will be presented in form of pie charts, tables and graphs. DISSEMINATION OF RESULTS The results of our research will be presented at the end of our 4th year research rotation in the 2022/2023 academic year. Copies will be submitted to COMREC, the Health Sciences Research Committee, College of Medicine Library, URPC and Malawi Medical Journals.