El-Halabi Soha, McCabe Ronan, Forsberg Birger C, Elling Devy L, El-Khatib Ziad
Department of Learning Informatics Management and Ethics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Health Res Policy Syst. 2021 Apr 12;19(1):64. doi: 10.1186/s12961-021-00712-2.
Globally, women constitute 30% of researchers. Despite an increasing proportion of women in research, they are still less likely to have international collaborations. Literature on barriers to knowledge transfer and exchange (KTE) between men and women remains limited. This study aimed to assess perceived gender barriers to KTE activities in vaccination-related research in low-, middle- and high-income countries.
This was a cross-sectional data assessment from a self-administered questionnaire distributed to researchers in the field of vaccination research. The administered questionnaire was developed and validated by WHO and McMaster University. Descriptive statistics were carried out. Structural factors of KTE were assessed using 12 statements measured with a five-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). An index ranging from 12 to 60 points was created to assess structural factors of KTE, with higher score indicating fewer perceived barriers. Multivariable linear regression modelling was applied to examine the association between KTE barriers and gender.
A total of 158 researchers were included in the analysis. Regardless of gender and country of affiliation, researchers experienced challenges with respect to KTE activities; particularly factors related to the availability of human and financial resources and level of technical expertise among their target audience. We were also able to identify perceived facilitators among men and women, such as the presence of structures that link researchers and target audiences, the investment of target audiences in KTE efforts and the presence of stable contacts among target audiences. Our linear regression analysis showed that women perceived more barriers than men (R = 0.014; B = -1.069; 95% CI -4.035; 1.897).
Men and women shared common perspectives on barriers to KTE. KTE activities could be strengthened by improving structural efforts to reduce gender differences and increase collaborations between researchers and their target audience.
在全球范围内，女性占研究人员的30%。尽管从事研究工作的女性比例在不断增加，但她们开展国际合作的可能性仍然较低。关于男女之间知识转移与交流（KTE）障碍的文献仍然有限。本研究旨在评估低收入、中等收入和高收入国家在疫苗接种相关研究中，人们所感知到的KTE活动中的性别障碍。
这是一项横断面数据评估，通过向疫苗接种研究领域的研究人员发放自填式问卷进行。所发放的问卷由世界卫生组织和麦克马斯特大学编制并验证。进行了描述性统计。使用12条陈述来评估KTE的结构因素，这些陈述采用从1（强烈不同意）到5（强烈同意）的五点李克特量表进行衡量。创建了一个从12分到60分的指数来评估KTE的结构因素，分数越高表明感知到的障碍越少。应用多变量线性回归模型来检验KTE障碍与性别的关联。
共有158名研究人员纳入分析。无论性别和所属国家，研究人员在KTE活动方面都面临挑战；特别是与人力和财力资源的可用性以及目标受众的技术专业水平相关的因素。我们还能够确定男性和女性中被感知到的促进因素，例如存在连接研究人员和目标受众的结构、目标受众对KTE工作的投入以及目标受众之间存在稳定的联系。我们的线性回归分析表明，女性比男性感知到更多障碍（R = 0.014；B = -1.069；95%置信区间 -4.035；1.897）。
男女在KTE障碍方面有共同的看法。可以通过改进结构性措施来减少性别差异并加强研究人员与其目标受众之间的合作，从而加强KTE活动。
