Methodology for assessment of public health emergency preparedness and response synergies between institutional authorities and communities
Abstract Background This paper describes a participatory methodology that supports investigation of the synergistic collaboration between communities affected by infectious disease outbreak events and relevant official institutions. The core principle underlying the methodology is the recognition th...
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ftdatacite:10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4972646 2023-05-15T16:53:00+02:00 Methodology for assessment of public health emergency preparedness and response synergies between institutional authorities and communities Vries, Daniel H. De Kinsman, John Takacs, Judit Tsolova, Svetla Ciotti, Massimo 2020 https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4972646 https://springernature.figshare.com/collections/Methodology_for_assessment_of_public_health_emergency_preparedness_and_response_synergies_between_institutional_authorities_and_communities/4972646 unknown figshare https://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12913-020-05298-z CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 CC-BY Medicine Biotechnology Cancer Science Policy 110309 Infectious Diseases FOS Health sciences Computational Biology Collection article 2020 ftdatacite https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4972646 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-020-05298-z 2021-11-05T12:55:41Z Abstract Background This paper describes a participatory methodology that supports investigation of the synergistic collaboration between communities affected by infectious disease outbreak events and relevant official institutions. The core principle underlying the methodology is the recognition that synergistic relationships, characterised by mutual trust and respect, between affected communities and official institutions provide the most effective means of addressing outbreak situations. Methods The methodological approach and lessons learned were derived from four qualitative case studies including (i) two tick-borne disease events (Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever in Spain, 2016, and tick-borne encephalitis in the Netherlands, 2016); and (ii) two outbreaks of acute gastroenteritis (norovirus in Iceland, 2017, and verocytotoxin-producing Escherichia coli [VTEC] in Ireland, 2018). An after-event qualitative case study approach was taken using mixed methods. The studies were conducted in collaboration with the respective national public health authorities in the affected countries by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). The analysis focused on the specific actions undertaken by the participating countries’ public health and other authorities in relation to community engagement, as well as the view from the perspective of affected communities. Results Lessons highlight the critical importance of collaborating with ECDC National Focal Points during preparation and planning and with anthropological experts. Field work for each case study was conducted over one working week, which although limiting the number of individuals and institutions involved, still allowed for rich data collection due to the close collaboration with local authorities. The methodology enabled efficient extraction of synergies between authorities and communities. Implementing the methodology required a reflexivity among fieldworkers that ackowledges that different versions of reality can co-exist in the social domain. The method allowed for potential generalisability across studies. Issues of extra attention included insider-outsider perspectives, politically sensitivity of findings, and how to deal with ethical and language issues. Conclusions The overall objective of the assessment is to identify synergies between institutional decision-making bodies and community actors and networks before, during and after an outbreak response to a given public health emergency. The methodology is generic and could be applied to a range of public health emergencies, zoonotic or otherwise. Article in Journal/Newspaper Iceland DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology) |
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DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology) |
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Medicine Biotechnology Cancer Science Policy 110309 Infectious Diseases FOS Health sciences Computational Biology |
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Medicine Biotechnology Cancer Science Policy 110309 Infectious Diseases FOS Health sciences Computational Biology Vries, Daniel H. De Kinsman, John Takacs, Judit Tsolova, Svetla Ciotti, Massimo Methodology for assessment of public health emergency preparedness and response synergies between institutional authorities and communities |
topic_facet |
Medicine Biotechnology Cancer Science Policy 110309 Infectious Diseases FOS Health sciences Computational Biology |
description |
Abstract Background This paper describes a participatory methodology that supports investigation of the synergistic collaboration between communities affected by infectious disease outbreak events and relevant official institutions. The core principle underlying the methodology is the recognition that synergistic relationships, characterised by mutual trust and respect, between affected communities and official institutions provide the most effective means of addressing outbreak situations. Methods The methodological approach and lessons learned were derived from four qualitative case studies including (i) two tick-borne disease events (Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever in Spain, 2016, and tick-borne encephalitis in the Netherlands, 2016); and (ii) two outbreaks of acute gastroenteritis (norovirus in Iceland, 2017, and verocytotoxin-producing Escherichia coli [VTEC] in Ireland, 2018). An after-event qualitative case study approach was taken using mixed methods. The studies were conducted in collaboration with the respective national public health authorities in the affected countries by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). The analysis focused on the specific actions undertaken by the participating countries’ public health and other authorities in relation to community engagement, as well as the view from the perspective of affected communities. Results Lessons highlight the critical importance of collaborating with ECDC National Focal Points during preparation and planning and with anthropological experts. Field work for each case study was conducted over one working week, which although limiting the number of individuals and institutions involved, still allowed for rich data collection due to the close collaboration with local authorities. The methodology enabled efficient extraction of synergies between authorities and communities. Implementing the methodology required a reflexivity among fieldworkers that ackowledges that different versions of reality can co-exist in the social domain. The method allowed for potential generalisability across studies. Issues of extra attention included insider-outsider perspectives, politically sensitivity of findings, and how to deal with ethical and language issues. Conclusions The overall objective of the assessment is to identify synergies between institutional decision-making bodies and community actors and networks before, during and after an outbreak response to a given public health emergency. The methodology is generic and could be applied to a range of public health emergencies, zoonotic or otherwise. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Vries, Daniel H. De Kinsman, John Takacs, Judit Tsolova, Svetla Ciotti, Massimo |
author_facet |
Vries, Daniel H. De Kinsman, John Takacs, Judit Tsolova, Svetla Ciotti, Massimo |
author_sort |
Vries, Daniel H. De |
title |
Methodology for assessment of public health emergency preparedness and response synergies between institutional authorities and communities |
title_short |
Methodology for assessment of public health emergency preparedness and response synergies between institutional authorities and communities |
title_full |
Methodology for assessment of public health emergency preparedness and response synergies between institutional authorities and communities |
title_fullStr |
Methodology for assessment of public health emergency preparedness and response synergies between institutional authorities and communities |
title_full_unstemmed |
Methodology for assessment of public health emergency preparedness and response synergies between institutional authorities and communities |
title_sort |
methodology for assessment of public health emergency preparedness and response synergies between institutional authorities and communities |
publisher |
figshare |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4972646 https://springernature.figshare.com/collections/Methodology_for_assessment_of_public_health_emergency_preparedness_and_response_synergies_between_institutional_authorities_and_communities/4972646 |
genre |
Iceland |
genre_facet |
Iceland |
op_relation |
https://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12913-020-05298-z |
op_rights |
CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4972646 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-020-05298-z |
_version_ |
1766043509952872448 |