Terms
of Reference
MHealth
Research Fellow
Transform
Nutrition, Wajir Kenya
Background: The prevalence of acute malnutrition in Kenya is 6% nationally, with rates ranging between 15-20% in the Arid and Semi-Arid Areas (ASAL), including Wajir County.
Background: The prevalence of acute malnutrition in Kenya is 6% nationally, with rates ranging between 15-20% in the Arid and Semi-Arid Areas (ASAL), including Wajir County.
Integrated
Management of Acute Malnutrition (IMAM) is a proven approach in the treatment
of acute malnutrition, however its effectiveness in Kenya is limited by Health
Workers failing to adhere to standard CMAM treatment protocol, due in part to
poor monitoring and support, relying on paper based systems.
A
rigorous evaluation is attached to the project to evaluate effectiveness of
using the tablets with IMAM adapted software. The evaluation targets 45 health
facilities in three contiguous sub-counties of Wajir: Wajir south (18 centres),
Wajir east (11 centres) and Tarbaj (16 centres).
Twenty
of these centres have been randomly selected, after stratifying by sub-county
to receive the tablets (intervention group) and the remaining facilities act as
a control group.
The
devices have IMAM adapted software that allows the health worker to record IMAM
data on site and follow IMAM protocols, providing more timely and accurate data
for decision making and higher quality of care.
The
following data has or will be collected and will need to be cleaned and analysed
to produce a report of findings by February 2017:
- Data
gathered through the tablets and paper registers for a period of 12 months
will be compared across the two groups to evaluate the effectiveness of
the tablets on treatment outcomes.
- Historical
data from paper registers since October 2014 is currently being entered
and will be used to check that the two groups of health facilities are
similar before the introduction of the tablets and assess issues with
current paper registers
- Health
facility observations will be conducted 2-3 times in all health facilities
by the project research assistants to assess the quality of care
- Qualitative
assessment will be also be done to assess acceptability and uptake of the
tablets and identify challenges and solutions found.
A
research fellow is needed from August 2016 for a period of 6 months (part
time at 50%) to support data management and analysis of the data gathered
through tablets and registers during a period of 12 months.
The
research fellow will work on a part time basis supporting the project based in
Nairobi with frequent travel to Wajir.
The
research fellow will work with the data entry clerk, the research assistants
and Nutrition Advisor in Nairobi and the Head of Child Survival, with support
from SCUK technical advisors and an external expert (statistician or other
tbc).
Objective: To manage and analyse
the data generated by the tablets, paper registers and produce a report of
results, including a manuscript for publication and learning papers
Specific Activities
Specific Activities
1)
Preparation
- Review
research protocol and draft data analysis plan
- Training
on CommCare HQ and use of tablets
2)
CommCare HQ data and current historical data
- Draft
data analysis plan (adapt from Historical data analysis plan) with support
from experts
- Produce
summary report template (health worker version, county/national version)
and as an example (if not done yet)
- Make
recommendations for improving the software to share with Dimagi
- Work
with data entry clerk to clean data from registers (use same method as for
historical data) and manage it (catalogue, save and upload it to shared
drive/cloud etc)
- Merge
Register and CommCare data for key indicators
- Analyse
data: compare indicators between two groups (registers vs CommCare data)
- Produce
a report of findings, with separate summary and PPT
- Support
dissemination of findings at county and national level
3)
Observation checklist
- (security
permitting), conduct 1-2 health facility observation to see how checklist
works
- Develop
data entry template and oversee data entry
- Work
with Yussuf to clean and manage data (inc document and save it)
- Draft
data analysis plan (with support from advisors and expert/statistician)
- Analyse
data: compare quality of care between two groups
- Produce
report of findings, with separate summary report (for each data
collection) and PPT slides
- Support
dissemination of findings at county and national level (study
advisory committee)
4)
Manuscript / policy brief / Blog
- Draft
a manuscript, pulling results from all three analyses for publication in
peer reviewed journal (with support from Advisors/expert). This is main
deliverable for TN
- Produce
a research or policy brief to share with national and county level staff
- Support
dissemination of findings at national and county level
- Manage
blog and work with Wajir team and advisors to add lessons, findings to it
ongoing basis.
This
is 2nd main TN deliverable
5)
Qualitative assessment
- Develop
questionnaires to conduct Focus Group Discussions and In depth interviews
with health workers and caregivers
- Train
the Wajir staff to conduct the interviews and record the information
- Supervise
the data collection
- Analyse
and summarise the results of the qualitative assessment in a short report
6)
Capacity building
- Train
data entry clerk to clean, manage and analyse data
- Wherever
possible build SC and county staff capacity e.g. in data
use/interpretation, CommCare HQ data analysis and reporting, etc
Deliverables
|
Time
frame
|
1) CommCare and current data register data
|
|
· Summary report templates and
instructions, with examples
|
End
Aug 2016
|
· Recommendations for software improvements
|
End
Aug 2016
|
· Data analysis plan for impact evaluation
|
End
Sept 2016
|
· Report of results findings (impact
evaluation)
|
End
Feb2016
|
· Summary and PPT of findings
|
End
Feb 2016
|
2) Health facility observation checklists
|
|
· Data analysis plan
|
End
Aug 2016
|
· Report of findings (quality of care)
|
End
Dec 2016
|
· Summary and PPT of findings
|
End
Dec 2016
|
3) Qualitative assessment
|
|
· Questionnaires
|
End
Sept 2016
|
· Summary and PPT of findings
|
End
Nov 2016
|
4) Manuscript/ policy briefs/Blog
|
|
· Draft manuscript – MAIN
DELIVERABLE FOR TN
|
End
Feb 2016
|
· Policy brief
|
End
March 2016
|
· Well maintained blog
|
Ongoing
|
5)
|
|
6) Capacity building
|
|
· Performance feedback for data entry clerk
(skills developed and capacity for data management/analysis)
|
Dec
2016 (performance review time)
|
Management
and support: The
research fellow will be managed by the Nutrition Advisor and her main focal
point in Kenya will be the Head of Child Survival.
How to Apply
This
is a “gap filling consultancy’, and all interested Individuals are requested to
express interest by email to: Kenya.jobapplications@savethechildren.org
with a copy to Jacqueline.obuya@savethechildren.org by 2nd September 2016
Indicating the Assignment Title on the subject line.