TY - JOUR
T1 - Community-based participatory research in rural African contexts
T2 - Ethico-cultural considerations and lessons from Ghana
AU - Appiah, Richard
N1 - Funding Information: The author is thankful to the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (South Africa) for the award of the African Pathways NIHSS-CODESRIA Doctoral Scholarship towards his doctoral studies at the North-West University. The scholarship source did not have any influence on the conceptualisation and writing of the manuscript.The author would like to thank Professor Angela Ofori-Atta (University of Ghana School of Medicine and Dentistry) and IPA Ghana for the opportunity to work on the Escaping Poverty Project. The author also sincerely thank his doctoral supervisory team at the North-West University (Professors Marie P. Wissing and Lusilda Schutte, and Dr. Angelina Wilson Fadiji), as well as all field staff, community leaders, and participants involved in the discussed projects for their roles and for sharing their experiences with the author and the world.
PY - 2020/12/1
Y1 - 2020/12/1
N2 - Researchers conducting community-based participatory research (CBPR) with vulnerable populations in rural African settings are confronted with distinctive ethical and cultural challenges due to the community context of their research, their methods of investigation, and the implications of their findings for populations. Ethical considerations such as informed consent, the protection of privacy and confidentiality, and relationships between researchers and participants take on greater complexity and have implications beyond the individual research participant. Drawing on careful reflections of experiences from conducting mental health promotion intervention research using the CBPR approach and multi-methods in resource-poor rural communities in Ghana, we examine a range of ethico-cultural issues associated with community-based group intervention research in rural remote settings of Ghana. We offer suggestions to help researchers to envision and manage these complexities in a more appropriate way. Approaches aimed to promote relationships, fairness, respect, and cultural harmony between researchers and study participants are outlined. We urge prospective researchers to carefully explore and respect the cultural values and practices of community members and observe locally-defined ethical values and principles when conducting CBPRs in rural African settings to minimise ethics dumping and safeguard the integrity of their research.
AB - Researchers conducting community-based participatory research (CBPR) with vulnerable populations in rural African settings are confronted with distinctive ethical and cultural challenges due to the community context of their research, their methods of investigation, and the implications of their findings for populations. Ethical considerations such as informed consent, the protection of privacy and confidentiality, and relationships between researchers and participants take on greater complexity and have implications beyond the individual research participant. Drawing on careful reflections of experiences from conducting mental health promotion intervention research using the CBPR approach and multi-methods in resource-poor rural communities in Ghana, we examine a range of ethico-cultural issues associated with community-based group intervention research in rural remote settings of Ghana. We offer suggestions to help researchers to envision and manage these complexities in a more appropriate way. Approaches aimed to promote relationships, fairness, respect, and cultural harmony between researchers and study participants are outlined. We urge prospective researchers to carefully explore and respect the cultural values and practices of community members and observe locally-defined ethical values and principles when conducting CBPRs in rural African settings to minimise ethics dumping and safeguard the integrity of their research.
KW - Community-based participatory research
KW - Ethical and cultural considerations
KW - Ghana
KW - Intervention research
KW - Rural Africa
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85096744324&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/s40985-020-00145-2
DO - 10.1186/s40985-020-00145-2
M3 - Comment/debate
AN - SCOPUS:85096744324
VL - 41
JO - Public Health Reviews
JF - Public Health Reviews
SN - 0301-0422
IS - 1
M1 - 27
ER -