Feasibility theme | Exemplar Comments |
---|---|
Feasibility re: Conduct of Research | |
Defining and operationalizing concepts, methods and measures | āI'm not sure we'll ever reach consensus on definitions but measurement is a very important issue that requires quite a bit of additional work. Perhaps we would have better success developing common measures that would lead us to widely accepted indicators rather than definitions.ā āFew of these services have been formally evaluated. This would provide information useful in developing and testing new interventions.ā āThese kinds of methods have been developed in other contexts ā¦ and those methods could be reviewed for applicability to [violence, gender and mental health] studies.ā āData-driven definition is important, what is goal about definition, if definition is not accompanied by operationalization it wonāt move the field forward.ā āI think spending a lot of time on definitions and measures would be redundant with other work that has already been done.ā |
Conducting research (including costs) | āMore attention should be paid to observational and qualitative studies - and to small-scale or local interventions which might deserve a high rating for quality. Also, these studies could provide insights into cultural appropriateness, and variations in culture-specific approaches.ā āData linkage is relatively inexpensive, fosters collaboration, and can address policy questions.ā āTo conduct interaction studies a very large N size is needed and no one study will be able to handle all levels of contexts ā¦ Prudent designs that consider one population vs. another population (e.g. communities with high maltreatment vs. low maltreatment) can assist in capturing these complex models to test.ā |
Building the evidence base, not re-creating the wheel | āCDC has used a consensus building process to develop uniform definitions and data elements for child maltreatment, intimate partner violence and sexual violence. So, it seems like re-creating the wheel to start from scratch on definitions.ā āI know that other groups are working on thisā¦we should use their work and adapt it to our fields, rather than working on this from the ground upā āI think there is already some evidence and more is always useful but perhaps this is not so vital as other priorities.ā āChild maltreatment in First Nations communities is definitely a priority ā however the work in this area has to support and build on the work that First Nations communities are already doing.ā āGiven how few tested interventions exist, there may be something to learn from a review of ābest practicesā in community programs, including any evaluative studies which have been doneā |
Feasibility re: Implementation of Research | |
Implementing interventions (including costs) | āMany of the effective and promising programmes developed in high-income countries are prohibitively expensive for low- and middle-income countries, which make up the vast majority of the world's population.ā āDeveloping effective interventions is only half the battle, they then have to be successfully and sustainably implemented on a large enough scale and this too is an important area of research.ā āTailor programs to fit culturally diverse communities.ā |
Partnering and advocacy | āChanges such as these are hard to achieve unless there is a will to do so at the senior levels of government. We should begin lobbying for this now, understanding that taking on this agenda may be a long-term project.ā āI know that WHO is very interested in this and we should try to help.ā āI do think that a coordinated effort with child welfare agencies to prevent recurrence and improve parenting should be undertaken.ā āThis is an important global priority that could be encouraged by PreVAiL, esp. partners, but since itās not primary research, may be slightly outside the scope of PreVAiLās main mandateā |
Other Feasibility Considerations | |
Being realistic (re: timeframes, expertise and the broader research context) | āExtremely interesting but feasibility with our current investigators is very limited.ā āAny information on promising prevention programs would be most welcomed but I donāt see this necessarily as PreVAiLās strengthā¦more like UNIFEM or other [international] NGOs.ā āMight be possible to do research and evaluation within the time frame, in very specific settings.ā āGiven the long-range time span for this item, it might be difficult to do appropriate research in 3 ā 5āyears.ā āSeems like we have methods to do this already, but we lack the commitment of funders for the long haul ā funding longitudinal follow-up.ā |