Aligning community engagement with traditional authority structures in global health research: A case study from Northern Ghana

P.O. Tindana, L. Rozmovits, R.F. Boulanger, S.V.S. Bandewar, R.A. Aborigo, A.V.O. Hodgson, P. Kolopack and J.V. Lavery

American Journal of Public Health, 2011, vol. 101, issue 10, 1857-1867

Abstract: Despite the recognition of its importance, guidance on community engagement practices for researchers remains underdeveloped, and there is little empirical evidence of what makes community engagement effective in biomedical research. We chose to study the Navrongo Health Research Centre in northern Ghana because of its well-established community engagement practices and because of the opportunity it afforded to examine community engagement in a traditional African setting. Our findings suggest that specific preexisting features of the community have greatly facilitated community engagement and that using traditional community engagement mechanisms limits the social disruption associated with research conducted by outsiders. Finally, even in seemingly ideal, small, and homogeneous communities, cultural issues exist, such as gender inequities, that may not be effectively addressed by traditional practices alone.

Date: 2011
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.2105/AJPH.2011.300203

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2011.300203_1

DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2011.300203

Access Statistics for this article

American Journal of Public Health is currently edited by Alfredo Morabia

More articles in American Journal of Public Health from American Public Health Association
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Christopher F Baum ().