Ministry of Health, Republic of Liberia, Monrovia, Liberia.
Quantitative-Data for Decision-Making Lab, Monrovia, Liberia.
PLoS One. 2023 Feb 2;18(2):e0280917. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0280917. eCollection 2023.
During recent disease outbreaks, quantitative research has been used to investigate intervention scenarios while accounting for local epidemiological, social, and clinical context. Despite the value of such work, few documented research efforts have been observed to originate from low-income countries. This study aimed to assess barriers that may be limiting the awareness and conduct of quantitative research among Liberian public health graduate students.
A semi-structured questionnaire was administered September-November 2021 to Master's in Public Health (MPH) students in Liberia. Potential barriers around technology access, understanding of quantitative science, and availability of mentorship were interrogated. Associations between barriers and self-reported likelihood of conducting quantitative research within six months of the investigation period were evaluated using ordinal logistic regression.
Among 120 participating MPH students, 86% reported owning a personal computer, but 18.4% and 39.4% had machines with malfunctioning hardware and/or with battery power lasting ≤2 hours, respectively. On average, students reported having poor internet network 3.4 days weekly. 47% reported never using any computer software for analysis, and 46% reported no specific knowledge on statistical analysis. Students indicated spending a median 30 minutes per week reading scientific articles. Moreover, 50% had no access to quantitative research mentors. Despite barriers, 59% indicated they were very likely to undertake quantitative research in the next 6 months; only 7% indicated they were not at all likely. Computer ownership was found to be statistically significantly associated with higher likelihood of conducting quantitative research in the multivariable analysis (aOR: 4.90,95% CI: 1.54-16.3).
The high likelihood of conducting quantitative research among MPH students contrasts with limitations around computing capacity, awareness of research tools/methods, and access to mentorship. To promote rigorous analytical research in Liberia, there is a need for systematic measures to enhance capacity for diverse quantitative methods through efforts sensitive to the local research environment.
在最近的疾病爆发期间，已经使用定量研究来调查干预方案，同时考虑到当地的流行病学、社会和临床情况。尽管这种工作很有价值，但很少有观察到源自低收入国家的有记录的研究工作。本研究旨在评估可能限制利比里亚公共卫生研究生对定量研究的认识和开展的障碍。
2021 年 9 月至 11 月，向利比里亚的公共卫生硕士 (MPH) 学生发放了一份半结构式问卷。调查了在技术获取、对定量科学的理解以及获得指导方面的障碍。使用有序逻辑回归评估了障碍与调查期间六个月内进行定量研究的可能性之间的关联。
在 120 名参与的 MPH 学生中，86%的人报告拥有个人电脑，但 18.4%和 39.4%的人分别有硬件故障和/或电池续航时间≤2 小时的机器。平均而言，学生每周报告有 3.4 天网络不良。47%的人从未使用过任何计算机分析软件，46%的人没有特定的统计分析知识。学生表示每周平均阅读科学文章 30 分钟。此外，50%的人无法获得定量研究导师的帮助。尽管存在障碍，但 59%的人表示他们很可能在未来 6 个月内进行定量研究；只有 7%的人表示他们完全不可能。在多变量分析中，计算机拥有情况与进行定量研究的可能性呈统计学显著相关（优势比：4.90，95%置信区间：1.54-16.3）。
在 MPH 学生中进行定量研究的可能性很高，这与计算能力、对研究工具/方法的认识以及获得指导的机会有限形成对比。为了在利比里亚促进严格的分析研究，需要采取系统措施，通过对当地研究环境敏感的努力，提高对各种定量方法的能力。
