Although South Africa is the global epicenter of the HIV epidemic, the uptake of HIV testing and treatment among young people remains low. Concerns about confidentiality impede the utilization of HIV prevention services, which signals the need for discrete HIV prevention measures that leverage youth-friendly platforms. This paper describes the process of developing a youth-friendly internet-enabled HIV risk calculator in collaboration with young people, including young key populations aged between 18 and 24 years old. Using qualitative research, we conducted an exploratory study with 40 young people including young key population (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) individuals, men who have sex with men (MSM), and female sex workers). Eligible participants were young people aged between 18–24 years old and living in Soweto. Data was collected through two peer group discussions with young people aged 18–24 years, a once-off group discussion with the [Name of clinic removed for confidentiality] adolescent community advisory board members and once off face-to-face in-depth interviews with young key population groups: LGBT individuals, MSM, and female sex workers. LGBT individuals are identified as key populations because they face increased vulnerability to HIV/AIDS and other health risks due to societal stigma, discrimination, and obstacles in accessing healthcare and support services. The measures used to collect data included a socio-demographic questionnaire, a questionnaire on mobile phone usage, an HIV and STI risk assessment questionnaire, and a semi-structured interview guide. Framework analysis was used to analyse qualitative data through a qualitative data analysis software called NVivo. Descriptive statistics were summarized using SPSS for participant socio-demographics and mobile phone usage. Of the 40 enrolled participants, 58% were male, the median age was 20 (interquartile range 19–22.75), and 86% had access to the internet. Participants’ recommendations were considered in developing the HIV risk calculator. They indicated a preference for an easy-to-use, interactive, real-time assessment offering discrete and private means to self-assess HIV risk. In addition to providing feedback on the language and wording of the risk assessment tool, participants recommended creating a colorful, interactive and informational app. A collaborative and user-driven process is crucial for designing and developing HIV prevention tools for targeted groups. Participants emphasized that privacy, confidentiality, and ease of use contribute to the acceptability and willingness to use internet-enabled HIV prevention methods.

Means, standard deviations, and t-test statistics for mental health outcomes.

Abstract

The performance evaluation of the COSDEC subactivity integrated a qualitative analysis and a quantitative outcomes analysis. The qualitative analysis explored implementation of the subactivity, how it evolved after the compact, and its sustainability. It relied on two rounds of qualitative data: one conducted close to the end of the Namibia compact, and a second conducted about a year later. The qualitative data drew on focus groups with COSDEC trainees and interviews with COSDEC managers, the COSDEF (the body that oversees the COSDECs), implementers, employers, and other stakeholders. The outcomes analysis sought to describe the characteristics and outcomes of enrollees in the seven new or renovated COSDECs. It relied on a survey of COSDEC enrollees that collected information about their training and labor market outcomes about one year after the end of COSDEC training. The COSDEC enrollee survey and the second round of qualitative data informed the final COSDEC evaluation report. (The findings from the first round of qualitative data were provided in an interim evaluation report covering all three subactivities.) The data from the COSDEC enrollee survey are available for public use, but the qualitative data are not because of the risks to confidentiality.

Geographic coverage

COSDEC providers throughout Namibia.

Analysis unit

Individuals

Universe

All enrollees in the 36 national courses that started in the seven new and renovated COSDECs between July and December 2014.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The targeted sample for the COSDEC evaluation consists of all 934 enrollees in the national courses that started in the seven new and renovated COSDECs between July and December 2014. Of these enrollees, 642 completed a survey, and constitute the analytic sample used for the analysis.

Sampling deviation

Based on a request from COSDEF, we also administered the survey to enrollees in COSDEC Benguela (Lüderitz)--the only COSDEC not affected by the subactivity. COSDEF funded this additional data collection because they wanted comparable data and summary statistics for all the COSDECs in Namibia for their internal purposes, but our evaluation only covered the seven new and renovated COSDECs. Because data for COSDEC Benguela were entirely outside the evaluation, we have excluded this COSDEC from the public use dataset. The appendix to the COSDEC final report contains additional information about the data for COSDEC Benguela.

Mode of data collection

Computer Assisted Telephone Interview [cati]

Research instrument

The COSDEC survey was developed by Mathematica, and was a computer-assisted survey that was conducted by telephone. The survey was developed in English and was translated into Afrikaans, Oshiwambo, Otjiherero, and Rukwangali; the translated versions were used for respondents who were not comfortable in English. The survey included the following modules: (1) education and vocational training; (2) employment and earnings; (3) income and household demographics; and (4) health behaviors (related to HIV/AIDS and pregnancy).

Cleaning operations

Mathematica conducted cleaning of the raw data file in Stata, which included checking the validity of variable values and ranges; verifying skip patterns; cleaning and back-coding common "other-specify" responses; creating binaries of categorical variables; and recoding skips, missing data, and other non-response values to standardized lettered indicators. Mathematica then merged these data with sample information related to the COSDEC training in which each individual was enrolled (for example, provider, course name, and course duration).

Response rate

The response rate to the follow-up survey in the seven new or rennovated COSDECs was 68.7 percent.

Sampling error estimates

The survey data were intended to cover the universe of applicants to the included trainings, and did not involve any sampling. The only source of error in the estimated means is survey non-response. Users can therefore rely on standard formulae to calculate the sampling error for the estimated means.

Oral storytelling events for healthcare professionals are gaining in popularity, yet evaluation of these initiatives is scarce. We designed and assessed the impact of a hospital-wide storytelling event at an academic medical center in New England. This study was grounded in social constructivism, which posits that knowledge and collaborative meaning-making are socially constructed through interpersonal interactions and shared language. Stories were solicited from interdisciplinary staff on a theme, and six selected storytellers were paired with coaches. The hybrid in-person/virtual event was held in 2021. Attendees were invited to complete a post-event survey, as well as a semi-structured interview or written response. Storytellers were invited to reflect via a post-event focus group or written responses. Qualitative data were coded using a mixed inductive and deductive content analytic approach. Survey data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The storytellers included representation from internal and emergency medicine, nursing, infrastructure project management, and research administration. The 155 attendees included 25 in-person/130 virtual. Qualitative data (nine participants) revealed that sharing stories fostered interpersonal connection and a sense of common humanity, enhanced by the storytellers’ vulnerability and diversity. Storytellers valued coaches’ emotional and creative support in co-creating stories with them. Lastly, the event was felt to strengthen the hospital community. These themes were echoed in the survey data (30 participants): > 75% of respondents indicated that the event helped them reflect on their values, connect with others, and access a sense of purpose. A multidisciplinary hospital-wide oral storytelling event is one way to enhance self-reflection, interpersonal connection, and a sense of community among healthcare professionals.

Five sample plots (30m X 20m) along each transect at intervals of 200m were established to facilitate forest species counts to enable generation of information on species representation in the specific forest areas. For the whole forest, seven 1-km transects were done adjacent to the villages. For each plot, there was a main plot A(30m X20m), where all trees with over 10cm DBH were measured using a diameter tape and height also measured; two Sub-plots of B (10m X 5m) – where all saplings, lianas and shrubs, DBH = 2 cm - 9.99 cm, at least 1.5 m height were assessed and two Sub-plots of C (1m X 2m) - seedlings counted. The population structure of the species was analysed across ten DBH classes whereas the status of regeneration was determined based on the population size of seedlings, saplings and adults (Gebrehiwot & Hundera, 2014). The identification of the plants was done by at least two local scouts with wide knowledge of the species in vernacular names and by referring to flora books (Dale & Greenway, 1961; Beentje, 1994; KFS, 2015). Finally, three Focused group discussions (FGD) based on the procedure by Krueger & Casey (2009) was done to document uses of plants in South Nandi forest. For each plant species, all its known uses were mentioned and consensus reached among members of the group before recording them. Focused group discussions per site were done per site were done separately in the three different locations in September 2016. Quantitative analysis was done using either Excel 2010, SPSS version 21 or Genstat version 19 depending of the type of analysis, for example, Genstat was used in doing Principal Component Analysis (PCA). PCA is a multivariate analysis which is widely used in biology where high-dimensional data are very common. In this study, PCA was used to analyze tree/shrub species diversity trends in the forest based on the method described in Lever et al. (2017). Forest data was first subjected to Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk normality tests in SPSS Version 21 and if data was not normally distributed, it was transformed Log (x + 4) then a two-way ANOVA done. Descriptive statistics and homogeneity test (Levene’s test) were generated; where the results indicated a significant difference (p<0.05), Post Hoc test (Tukey’s test) were done to find out which means were significantly different, and for qualitative analysis, descriptive statistics was used. Forest plot data were summarized according to standard protocols; the stems for seedlings, saplings, and trees were expressed as the number of stems per hectare (density). Basal area (BA), which is the cross-sectional area of a tree, was calculated from dbh and presented for various size classes as m2ha-1.

The data addresses the dynamics of coexistence and conflict in increasingly diverse cities from a human-centred perspective. It was collected as part of the EU-funded project Coexistence and Conflict in the Age of Complexity (EmergentCommunity) in nine European cities in Finland, France, and Sweden. The dataset comprises of two parts: EmergentCommunityEthno (qualitative data) and EmergentCommunityVR (quantitative and qualitative data) that were collected during the project. In addition to these, desk research was conducted and these files have been included in the metadata description.

EmergentCommunityEthno (dataset 1):

Across the nine cities, participants consisted of people above 15-years of age, living in the studied urban neighbourhoods or using their public spaces. In Finland, data were collected in the neighbourhoods of Peltolammi and Multisilta in Tampere, in Malmi in Helsinki, and in Martti and Paavola in Hyvinkää. In Tampere, part of the data (n=31 interviews) was collected in collaboration with the EKOS research project (this part of the data is described and archived in the Finnish Social Science Data Archive, DoI: https://doi.org/10.60686/t-fsd3816). The second part of the data was collected in Sweden. The data collection sites there were the neighborhoods of Möllevången and Nydala in Malmö, Farsta and Rågsved in Stockholm, and Fröslunda and Årby in Eskilstuna. The French data were collected in the La Plaine area in Marseille; in La-Chapelle-Saint-Luc, Saint-Andre-Les-Vergers and Les Chartreux in Troyes; and in Guillotière in Lyon.

Across these sites shared methods were used in data collection, consisting of thematic interviews, walking interviews, and observations. The dataset emphasizes the diversity of experiences and the manifestations of distinctions in diverse urban environments and examines the ways in which people form bonds in relation to each other, their neighborhoods, and the broader society.

The first set of participants were located through social media groups (Facebook), from the premises of associations organizing community activities in the areas, libraries, cafes, community events, and youth centers. After this, snowball sampling was used, in addition to which targeted recruitment was applied if a population group represented in the area was completely missing from the dataset. Ethnographic observations were conducted in public spaces, community centres, cafés, stations, and shopping centres that were selected as potentially interesting places based on extant scholarship on living with difference and urban encounters. Here, attention was paid at how people used these sites, who were there and who were absent, as well as how people moved in and across the sites. Notes were made of what kinds of encounters, patterns of behaviour, cooperations, and conflicts occurred. These observations were made at various times of the day, to capture potential temporal changes. This resulted in a rich collection of fieldnotes, sketches, photographs, and movement maps.

Relevant files: 1) EmergentCommunity ethnographic matrix.pdf, 2) EmergentCommunityEthno interview questions.docx, 3) EmergentCommunity_metadata public.xlsx (contains all metadata from the project), 4) EmergentCommunityEthno_metadata.csv (contains metadata only on desk research, ethnographic interviews and fieldnotes).

EmergentCommunityVR (dataset 2):

Data collection was conducted in Helsinki, Marseille, and Malmö. The data was collected using 360-degree videos based on the aforementioned ethnographic data as stimuli to which participants were exposed. A separate video was created for each city, using specifically the data collected therein. We put together a mobile laboratory set-up that travelled to each city and collaborated with local NGOs whose premises were used as our laboratory space. The equipment and software used are explained in the document "EmergentCommunity mobile laboratory.pdf".

The inclusion criteria for participation were: being a major, healthy, not having hearing or vision impairments, being a resident in the city that the video depicted, and knowledge of the local language in which the video was executed. During the viewing of the video stimulus, participants' physiological responses were measured and their eye movements were tracked. VR eye tracking was used as it enables the precise analysis of gaze behaviour – such as fixations and saccades – within immersive, ecologically valid environments. Regarding physiological signals, the focus was on the electrical activity of the heart using electrocardiography (ECG), the electrical activity of the facial muscles using facial electromyography (fEMG), and the electrical conductivity of the skin using galvanic skin response (GSR). To complement the physiological data, a multimodal setup was established to assess the affective content of the stimulus in terms of arousal/valence, avoidance/approach, and unpredictability. After viewing, the participants were asked to evaluate the intensity of their emotional experience and to name the emotional reactions elicited by the video using a questionnaire carried out with Gorilla Experiment Builder. The questionnaire also contained background questions, from basic participant information, such as age and gender, to aspects that relate to diversity and inequality in contemporary societies: language, income, housing, education, political activity, participation, as well as political opinions and social values. After completing the measurements and the questionnaire, participants were interviewed about their experience and the thoughts it provoked, and they were asked to share information regarding their daily lives.

The purpose of the dataset was to help understand the formation of emotional experiences and the significance and functioning of emotions in the everyday life of increasingly diverse and unequal cities. The call for participation was distributed in several thematic Facebook groups (related to e.g., urban development, multiculturalism, neighborhood, local NGOs and minority communities) and via Instagram, as well as through flyers/posters in libraries, local associations, shopping centers, cafes, and on the project's Facebook page and Instagram profile. In the case of Marseille and Malmö, local assistants were used to spread the invitation within their networks and distribute participation invitation leaflets on the streets. In each city, it was possible for already registered participants to invite additional participants as well. Overall, the goal was to ensure the representativeness of the data in terms of age, gender, and minority status.

Relevant files: 1) EmergentCommunity video stimuli.pdf, 2) EmergentCommunityVR interview questions.pdf, 3) EmergentCommunityVR Gorilla questionnaires.pdf, 4) EmergentCommunity mobile laboratory.pdf, 5) EmergentCommunity_metadata public.xlsx (contains all metadata from the project), 6) EmergentCommunityVR interviews.csv (contains metadata on interviews done after watching the 360-degree video), 7) EmergentCommunityVR physio.csv (contains metadata on physiological measuring and questionnaires).

Purpose of the data

The EmergentCommunity project aimed at producing knowledge about what community means and how it is formed in increasingly diverse societies, as well as the conflicts and tensions that everyday life brings out. The project empirically examined the concrete challenges that societal changes produce for cities and coexistence. The aim was to identify how peaceful coexistence could be supported and population relations promoted in urban everyday life. The project emphasized that community relations and everyday coexistence are affective, social, and spatial phenomena, which is why a wide range of research methods from ethnography and observation to psychophysiological measurements and interviews were applied. These approaches were brought into dialogue through virtual reality by utilizing ethnography-based 360-degree videos depicting everyday life in the latter part of the project (EmergentCommunityVR). Thus, the project created new understanding of emotions formed in everyday life and produced unique knowledge in the fields of psychological and sociological emotion research. Bringing these areas together enabled a critical examination of the concept of community and the identification of the practices and ways in which communities are produced in the everyday life of diverse and unequal cities (see CORDIS database for public description, results, and reporting).

Throughout the data collection, the research focused on everyday life and the forms, practices, and interpretations of everyday coexistence in public urban spaces in the selected research neighbourhoods. Participants were also asked to share their experiences, interpretations, and views on societal change and how the change has been visible in their own neighborhoods and what thoughts and feelings it evokes in them. The data was formed through non-probability sampling (self-formed sample).

The research sites were selected by examining statistics, policy reports, and available data on demographic changes and diversity, income inequality, trends of residential and ethnic segregation in different countries and cities (desk research). We chose the countries and cities so that they would complement each other and that changes were observable in each selected context, although their forms, emphases, and manifestations might vary. After this extensive background review, we focused on the city level, complementing the available statistical data with news articles and reports and analyses related to urban areas and development. This allowed us to identify pockets of diversity and inequality within each city. Finally, study neighborhoods were selected based on them having undergone urban development projects, being targeted with anti-segregation measures, their residents' socio-economic

Frequency distribution of chats based social presence indicators.

BackgroundIn addition to the state-mandated case investigation and contact tracing, the Unified Government Public Health Department of Wyandotte County, Kansas implemented social support services for COVID-19 cases and contacts; however, did not have the systems in place to document the provision of these services. Our team worked with the health department to develop and implement the COVID Tracking System (CTS), an eHealth system that linked multiple involved teams. Here, we describe the development and evaluation of the CTS. The objective of this manuscript is to describe and evaluate the development and implementation process of the Covid Tracking System.MethodsDrawing from concepts of user-centered design, we took a 4-phase approach to development: understanding context, specifying needs, designing solutions, and evaluating. A mixed-methods evaluation of the development and implementation process using RE-AIM was conducted. Quantitative CTS data captured between February 1, 2021, and September 30, 2021 were exported. Descriptive statistics were calculated for categorical variables and means (SD, range) or median (IQR) for continuous variables. Qualitative discussions with key users supplemented the quantitative data.ResultsThere were 1,152 cases entered into the CTS, of whom 307 (26.6%) requested a letter be sent to their workplace to excuse them during their quarantine period, 817 (70.9%) requested and had food and cleaning supplies delivered, 21 (1.8%) requested guidance on applying for federal assistance, and 496 (43.1%) requested to be contacted by a community health worker. While a few technical glitches slowed down early implementation, these were quickly resolved and key users felt that the CTS streamlined client referral and simplified their workflow, allowing them to spend more time on patient care and follow up, rather than documentation. After study implementation ended, the Unified Government Public Health Department of Wyandotte County continued using the CTS for client tracing and follow up.DiscussionThis project provides a roadmap of how user centered design can be applied to the development and evaluation of eHealth software to support program intervention implementation, even in situations where urgent action is needed.

The study on Early Childhood Development (ECD) practices in T/A Zilakoma, Nkhata Bay South Constituency, Malawi, employs the Ecological Systems Theory to explore recruitment, role definitions, and support systems. This theoretical construct enables an intricate examination of interactions within various environmental systems, emphasizing micro, meso, exo, macro, and chrono systems. Specifically, it illuminates the dynamics within immediate settings, interconnections among diverse systems, broader indirect influences, cultural ideologies, societal values, and temporal dimensions, offering a comprehensive lens for understanding educational contexts. The descriptive qualitative research was conducted within a case study framework to explore the practical experiences of stakeholders within ECD using semi-structured interview guides. Ethical standards were upheld, ensuring voluntary participation and confidentiality. Purposive sampling was used to collect data from diverse and knowledgeable participants involved in ECD domains, providing comprehensive insights aligned with the study’s objectives. Thematic analysis and sentiment mining were performed using Atlas 23 software. The results revealed themes such as recruitment practices relying on community-driven approaches, role ambiguity due to undefined responsibilities, informal evaluation processes, inconsistent training opportunities, and a dependency on community and volunteerism. These themes highlight the absence of formal structures and standardized processes in various aspects of ECD programs. Additionally, sentiment analysis illustrated diverse perspectives among stakeholders, reflecting their distinct experiences and challenges within the ECD landscape. The study concludes with policy recommendations aimed at addressing these systemic challenges.

Since February 2010, the longitudinal research study The Stockholm Life Course Project: Life-Courses and Crime In the Swedish Welfare State Through Half a Century is conducted at the Department of Criminology. The project consists of two research blocks, a quantitative and a qualitative, and is a follow-up study of three existing research populations. The Stockholm Life Course Project is a nearly unique project, conducted with the purpose of studying the life courses of individuals with and without delinquent background. The main purpose of the project is to explore and understand the life course processes surrounding onset, persistence, desistance and intermittency of offending. Specifically, the project is focused around five themes: 1) The processes, factors, events and turning points through the life course, which are of importance for understanding the individual’s criminal career. 2) The importance of different welfare structures for life courses processes of criminal offending and other norm-breaking behavior. 3) The relationship between physical/mental health and criminal offending, as well as other norm-breaking behavior across the life course. 4) The “Social Heritage”, in the form of horizontal and vertical diffusion of criminal offending and other norm-breaking behavior. 5) The possibilities and limitations in predicting future offending and other norm-breaking behavior.

The populations in The Stockholm Life Course Project will here be called the Clientele Boys, the Skå Boys and the SiS Youth. The Clientele Boys (b. 1943-1951) The population consists of four groups: 1) 192 delinquent boys with registered delinquent background prior to age 15 2) 95 matched controls (corresponding to every second delinquent boy), without registered delinquency prior to age 15 3) 96 “shadows” to the matched delinquent boys, and 4) 96 “shadows” to the matched controls. The 287 boys that make up group 1 and 2 went through extensive examinations during the 1960s, within the frame of the 1956 Clientele Study of Juvenile Law-breakers. The study included psychological tests, a medical examination, psychiatric interviews, sociological interviews, interviews with the boy’s parents and teachers, and also the collection of official data on the boy and his family. This group was followed-up at age 18, and also during the 1980s. During the 1980s follow-up, extensive official data were collected on the men. 199 of the original 287 boys were also interviewed. The project have access to the audio recordings of these interviews. The boys in group 3 and 4, the “shadows”, are matched on the same variables as the controls in group 2. The two “shadow” groups, however, are only followed through official data. The original reason for this, was the wish to account for any “treatment effects” in the original study design. The Skå Boys (b. 1941-1954) This population consists of 322 boys - 100 of them were admitted to treatment due to “antisocial problems” at the Skå institution. The remaining 222 boys make up a representative sample of boys born in Stockholm, around the same time as the Skå boys. The SiS Youth (b. 1969-1974) The SiS Youth consists of 420 individuals (298 boys, 122 girls). During their teens, 267 of these individuals were admitted to special youth care homes in Stockholm, due to delinquency, drug use and/or other social problems. The remaining 153 individuals, also with a history of offending, drug-use, etc., were used as a control group. All 420 individuals were followed-up with the help of official data in the middle of the 1990s, roughly at the age of 25. Eighty individuals in the treatment group and 53 in the control group were interviewed during this follow-up.

In the present follow-up, we use both quantitative and qualitative research methods (official register data, and life history interviews). For the quantitative branch of the project, data has been collected from Statistics Sweden, The National Board of Health and Welfare, The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention, The Military Archives of Sweden, and The Swedish Prison and Probation Service. To study the possible importance of the social heritage, we have also collected data on the individuals’ parents, children, grandchildren, siblings, siblings’ children, and siblings’ grandchildren. The qualitative branch of the project consists of life history interviews with the individuals who have been interviewed in earlier follow-ups (the Clientele boys and the SiS Youth). The interviews conducted during 2010/11 have the form of life history interviews. This means that we, with the help of an interview guide, ask questions and explore different areas of the individuals’ life courses, where we are interested in understanding how the interview participants relate the past to the present and the future. The interviews cover a range of topics including living arrangements, education and school experiences, employment history, health, social relations, experiences of crime, drug-use, victimization and the criminal justice system. Up until November 2011, we have conducted roughly 80 interviews, 27 with the Clientele boys and 57 with the SiS Youth. The interviews have lasted around 90 minutes. The main bulk of the interviews have been conducted with two interviewers, some with only one. The interviews have been conducted at the university, the interview participants’ work places, libraries, coffee houses or in the interview participant’s home.

Purpose:

The main purpose of the project is to explore and understand the life course processes surrounding onset, persistence, desistance and intermittency of offending.