Design and implementation research in global health

Our group emphasizes the use of qualitative research to inform the design, implementation and evaluative understanding of public health programs and interventions. We cherish established qualitative approaches (interviews, focus groups and observation), but we also aim to push qualitative techniques forward via, for example, debriefings, document reviews, epistemic interviews, journaling, media analysis, letter writing, photovoice and artefact-driven dialogue. A defining characteristic of our group is transdisciplinarity; we routinely partner with teams of trialists, social scientists, clinicians and epidemiologists to co-design interventions or surveys, to understand process-based perspectives amid intervention roll-out, and to capture summative insights regarding how end-users or implementers perceive an intervention.

Our work covers a range of topics across settings including:

• Mechanisms to support safe pregnancy and skilled birth attendance (Madagascar)
• Climate change and child health (global)
• Menstrual hygiene management for schoolchildren (Burkina Faso)
• Vaccine hesitancy and the development of interventions to promote vaccine confidence (Philippines, Germany and China)
• Feasibility and desirability of diagnostic tools (Germany)
• mHealth mechanisms to support hypertension management (Uganda)