Southeast Asia Social, Ethical and Engagement Aspects of Pandemic Preparedness Workshop

A recap on the SCOPE project's public engagement workshop held 18-19 February 2025 in Da Nang, Vietnam

Research Ethics Education for Community-Engaged Research: A Review and Research Agenda

What Covid Has Taught the World about Ethics

Re-Envisioning Member Checking and Communicating Results as Accountability Practice in Qualitative Research: A South African Community-Based Organization Example

CONNECT/Research in Focus Lecture: The lived experiences of Covid-19 by front-line health workers

LIVESTREAM: Covid-19 Vaccines: a Discussion

‘Labouring’ on the frontlines of global health research: mapping challenges experienced by frontline workers in Africa and Asia

A systematic review on ethical challenges of ‘field’ research in low-income and middle-income countries: respect, justice and beneficence for research staff?

Primary data collection in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) is associated with a range of ethical complexities. Considerations on how to adequately ensure the well-being of research staff are largely neglected in contemporary ethics discourse. This systematic review aims to identify the ethical challenges that research staff across different hierarchical levels and scientific disciplines face when conducting research in LMICs.

Model for developing context-sensitive responses to vulnerability in research: managing ethical dilemmas faced by frontline research staff in Kenya

An innovative leadership development initiative to support building everyday resilience in health systems

Effective management and leadership are essential for everyday health system resilience, but actors charged with these roles are often underprepared and undersupported to perform them. Particular challenges have been observed in interpersonal and relational aspects of health managers’ work, including communication skills, emotional competence and supportive oversight. Within the Resilient and Responsive Health Systems (RESYST) consortium in Kenya, the authors worked with two county health and hospital management teams to adapt a package of leadership development interventions aimed at building these skills. This article provides insights into: (1) the content and co-development of a participatory intervention combining two core elements: a complex health system taught course, and an adapted communications and emotional competence process training; and (2) the findings from a formative evaluation of this intervention which included observations of the training, individual interviews with participating managers and discussions in regular meetings with managers.

Collective strategies to cope with work related stress among nurses in resource constrained settings: An ethnography of neonatal nursing in Kenya

Nursing is central to the provision of hospital-based care and is particularly so in the treatment of newborns. Continuous, effective provision of a basic set of interventions can have a highly positive impact on neonatal mortality, and most of these key interventions are delivered by nurses.  Unfortunately, neonatal wards in low income settings are typified by a high ratio of sick infants to nurses, which makes it difficult to deliver even basic care and limits the level of quality that is achievable. In the context of neonatal nursing in low-income countries, nursing stress is of particular concern because workloads are higher and the demands on individuals are greater. While a great deal of research has been directed towards nursing stress, the study of how stress affects nursing practice at the ward level has not been a priority, particularly in LMIC settings. Instead, the study of nursing over-work, burnout and resilience has largely been focused on individuals and their personal, psychological characteristics. In the course of this study, the authors found that theories of individualised burnout and resilience did not help to explain the practices that seemed most important in reducing nurses' exposure to stress. Their research question asks instead how nurses collectively cope with workload and stress and how this affects nursing practice. 

Supporting the Mental Health of Health Workers during COVID-19

“Working in the department, before screening, I have to screen the patients, the responsibility and the greater pressure and ensure the safety of all medical staff and patients. This line of work is also scary.”   Acknowledging the impacts of the challenging context of COVID-19 for health workers, this online workshop explored some of the experiences of health care workers in Vietnam and discussed strategies to support their mental health and wellbeing. 

COVID-19 in Africa: care and protection for frontline healthcare workers

  Sustaining safe and quality care in the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic hinges on the health and mental wellbeing of frontline healthcare workers. Medical staff face exhaustion, difficult triage decisions, separation from families, stigma and the pain of losing patients and colleagues, in addition to their own risks of infection.  In this literature review, the authors describe the infection risks and mental health challenges that healthcare workers face in the COVID-19 pandemic and propose interventions to counter these in Africa. Lessons from previous disease-control efforts on the continent are highlighted and draw on experiences with SARS-CoV-2 in other parts of the world.   

Mental health before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: a longitudinal probability sample survey of the UK population

How mental health care should change as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic

The need for empathetic healthcare systems

Occupational Stress Among Health Worker in a National Dermatology Hospital in Vietnam, 2018

Prevalence and associated factors of depression, anxiety and stress among health staff in the hospital of tropical diseases - Ho Chi Minh city-Vietnam

Kỹ năng giao tiếp với người bệnh nóng giận | Communication with angry patients

Tạo động lực cho nhân viên y tế | Building motivation for healthcare workers