Maximizing community participation and engagement: lessons learned over 2 decades of field trials in rural Ghana

Background: Successful implementation of community-based research is dominantly influenced by participation and engagement from the local community without which community members will not want to participate in research and important knowledge and potential health benefits will be missed. Therefore, maximising community participation and engagement is key for the effective conduct of community-based research. In this paper, we present lessons learnt over two decades of conducting research in 7 rural districts in the Brong Ahafo region of Ghana with an estimated population of around 600,000. The trials which were mainly in the area of Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health were conducted by the Kintampo Health Research Centre (KHRC) in collaboration with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). Methods: The four core strategies which were used were formative research methods, the formation of the Information, Education and Communication (IEC) team to serve as the main link between the research team and the community, recruitment of field workers from the communities within which they lived, and close collaboration with national and regional stakeholders. Results: These measures allowed trust to be built between the community members and the research team and ensured that potential misconceptions which came up in the communities were promptly dealt with through the IEC team. The decision to place field workers in the communities from which they came and their knowledge of the local language created trust between the research team and the community. The close working relationship between the District health authorities and the Kintampo Health Research Centre supported the acceptance of the research in the communities as the District Health Authorities were respected and trusted. Conclusion: The successes achieved during the past 2 decades of collaboration between LSHTM and KHRC in conducting community-based field trials were based on involving the community in research projects. Community participation and engagement helped not only to identify the pertinent issues, but also enabled the communities and research team to contribute towards efforts to address challenges.