Dwarakanathan Vignesh, Kumar Alok, Nongkynrih Baridalyne, Kant Shashi, Gupta Sanjeev Kumar
Centre for Community Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi 110029, India.
Natl Med J India. 2018 Nov-Dec;31(6):366-369. doi: 10.4103/0970-258X.262911.
Community-based research is an excellent opportunity for medical students to learn outside the boundaries of a medical college, where health-related conditions and factors can be studied in a larger social context. It also brings a variety of other educational and social learning with it. The research question is usually a community-driven issue. There are multiple ways to arrive at a research question. Sampling poses a unique challenge, especially in terms of availability of a sampling frame. However, accessing electoral rolls, census data and approaching community leaders of voluntary agencies working in a particular area can be a suitable way. The interview schedule should be culturally and socially appropriate and locally validated if possible. Prior preparation of a timetable of activities is much needed, including slack time and contingency plans to fall back on as some social situations might make the area inaccessible. An important team member in these situations is a chaperone from the community who can facilitate these social interactions, including negotiations for the time of the participant. There may be sociocultural problems, which plague the research as much as they affect the community, which the researcher has to be sensitized to. Extra effort is needed to achieve a high response rate in community-based studies. Refusals by selected participants and their nonavailability despite 2-3 household visits need to be addressed with patience and perseverance. Several ethical issues arise during the research, and careful thought has to be given to avoid exploitation of the communities.
基于社区的研究为医学生提供了一个绝佳的机会，让他们能够在医学院校的范围之外进行学习，在更广阔的社会背景中研究与健康相关的状况和因素。它还带来了各种其他的教育和社会学习机会。研究问题通常是由社区驱动的问题。有多种方法可以得出研究问题。抽样带来了独特的挑战，尤其是在抽样框架的可用性方面。然而，获取选民名册、人口普查数据以及与在特定地区工作的志愿机构的社区领袖接触可能是一种合适的方式。访谈提纲在文化和社会层面应适当，并尽可能在当地进行验证。非常需要事先制定一份活动时间表，包括休息时间和应急计划，以便在某些社会情况可能导致该地区无法进入时能够依靠。在这些情况下，一个重要的团队成员是来自社区的陪同人员，他可以促进这些社会互动，包括就参与者的时间进行协商。可能存在社会文化问题，这些问题对研究的困扰程度与对社区的影响程度相同，研究人员必须对此保持敏感。在基于社区的研究中，需要付出额外的努力来实现高回应率。对于选定参与者的拒绝以及尽管进行了两三次家访但他们仍无法联系到的情况，需要耐心和毅力来解决。研究过程中会出现一些伦理问题，必须仔细考虑以避免对社区的剥削。
