Department of Sustainable Design Engineering, Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands.
Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands.
Glob Health Sci Pract. 2022 Aug 30;10(4). doi: 10.9745/GHSP-D-21-00780.
Urinary schistosomiasis is a waterborne parasitic infection caused by that affects approximately 30 million people annually in Nigeria. Treatment and eradication of this infection require effective diagnostics. However, current diagnostic tests have critical shortcomings and consequently are of limited value to stakeholders throughout the health care system who are involved in targeting the diagnosis and subsequent control of schistosomiasis. New diagnostic devices that fit the local health care infrastructure and support the different stakeholder diagnostic strategies remain a critical need. This study focuses on understanding, by means of Q-methodology, the context of use and application of a new diagnostic device that is needed to effectively diagnose urinary schistosomiasis in Oyo State, Nigeria. Q-methodology is a technique that investigates subjectivity by exploring how stakeholders rank-order opinion statements about a phenomenon. In this study, 40 statements were administered to evaluate stakeholder perspectives on the context of use and application of potential new diagnostic devices and how these perspectives or viewpoints are shared with other stakeholders. Potential new diagnostic devices will need to be deployable to remote or distant communities, be affordable, identify and confirm infection status before treatment in patients whose diagnosis of urinary schistosomiasis is based on self-reporting, and equip health care facilities with diagnostic devices optimized for the local setting while requiring local minimal infrastructural settings. Similarly, the context of use and application of a potential new diagnostic device for urinary schistosomiasis is primarily associated with the tasks stakeholders throughout the health care system perform or procedures employed. These findings will guide the development of new diagnostic devices for schistosomiasis that match the contextual landscape and diagnostic strategies in Oyo.
尿路血吸虫病是一种由 引起的经水传播的寄生虫感染，每年在尼日利亚约有 3000 万人感染。这种感染的治疗和根除需要有效的诊断。然而，目前的诊断测试存在关键的缺陷，因此对整个医疗保健系统中参与针对血吸虫病诊断和后续控制的利益相关者的价值有限。适合当地医疗保健基础设施并支持不同利益相关者诊断策略的新型诊断设备仍然是一个关键需求。本研究通过 Q 方法学，旨在了解一种新的诊断设备的使用和应用背景，这种设备是有效诊断尼日利亚奥约州尿路血吸虫病所必需的。Q 方法学是一种通过探索利益相关者对现象的排序观点来研究主观性的技术。在这项研究中，共管理了 40 项陈述，以评估利益相关者对潜在新诊断设备的使用和应用背景的看法，以及这些观点或观点如何与其他利益相关者共享。潜在的新诊断设备将需要部署到偏远或遥远的社区，价格实惠，在基于自我报告诊断为尿路血吸虫病的患者接受治疗之前识别和确认感染状态，并为医疗保健设施配备针对当地情况优化的诊断设备，同时要求当地基础设施设置最低。同样，尿路血吸虫病潜在新诊断设备的使用和应用背景主要与整个医疗保健系统中的利益相关者执行的任务或采用的程序相关。这些发现将指导针对奥约的血吸虫病的新型诊断设备的开发，这些设备与当地的环境和诊断策略相匹配。
