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      Evaluation of the Pint of Science festival in Thailand

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          Abstract

          Background

          The Pint of Science festival is the biggest annual international science festival. In May 2017, we coordinated the first Pint of Science festival in Thailand and reported our initial reflections. Building on this work, we set out to evaluate more systematically events conducted in 2018.

          Methods

          In 2018, we conducted Pint of Science events at four different locations in Bangkok. Overall, there were 18 talks held over six event-days in 2018. We administered 180 self-reported questionnaires as well as conducted 11 semi-structured interviews and a focus group discussion with audience members and speakers.

          Results

          Of the 180 questionnaires handed out, 125 attendees completed the questionnaire. The majority of attendees came because they were interested in science (68.0%), to learn something new (46.4%) and to enjoy themselves (44.8%). Our qualitative results confirm the quantitative findings. In addition, speakers viewed that they benefited by improving their communication skills and having the opportunity to network with scientists and non-scientists. Speakers also mentioned that such events were a good means to engage with the public, can improve the visibility of their work and potentially attract more funding. To improve the Pint of Science activities, audience members suggested to include a more diverse range of topics, more collaborations with other local research institutions and to hold the event at larger venues.

          Conclusions

          We conclude that Pint of Science was well received in Bangkok with recommendations to improve minor issues related to practicalities and logistics.

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            Elements of effective community engagement: lessons from a targeted malaria elimination study in Lao PDR (Laos)

            ABSTRACT Background: Mass drug (antimalarial) administration (MDA) is currently under study in Southeast Asia as part of a package of interventions referred to as targeted malaria elimination (TME). This intervention relies on effective community engagement that promotes uptake and adherence in target communities (above 80%). Objective: Based on the experienced of designing and implementing the community engagement for TME in Laos, in this article we aim to present the elements of effective community engagement for mass antimalarial administration. Methods: The design and implementation of community engagement, which took place from September 2015 to August 2016 was recorded as field notes, meeting minutes and photographs. These data underwent qualitative content analysis. Results: The community engagement strategy that accompanied TME in Laos was successful in terms of contributing to high levels of participation in mass anti-malarial administration (above 85%). Based on the experience of designing and implementing the community engagement, five key elements were identified: (1) stakeholder and authority engagement, which proceeded from national level, to regional/district and local level; (2) local human resources, particularly the recruitment of local volunteers who were integral to the design and implementation of activities in the study villages; (3) formative research, to rapidly gain insight into the local social and economic context; (4) responsiveness whereby the approach was adapted according to the needs of the community and their responses to the various study components; and (5) sharing control/leadership with the community in terms of decisions on the organization of TME activities. Conclusions: The community engagement that accompanied TME in Laos had to deal with challenges of implementing a complex study in remote and linguistically isolated villages. Despite these challenges, the study recorded high population coverage. Lessons learnt from this experience are useful for studies and intervention programs in diverse contexts.
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              Community engagement and the social context of targeted malaria treatment: a qualitative study in Kayin (Karen) State, Myanmar

              Background The spread of artemisinin-resistance in Plasmodium falciparum is a threat to current global malaria control initiatives. Targeted malaria treatment (TMT), which combines mass anti-malarial administration with conventional malaria prevention and control measures, has been proposed as a strategy to tackle this problem. The effectiveness of TMT depends on high levels of population coverage and is influenced by accompanying community engagement activities and the local social context. The article explores how these factors influenced attitudes and behaviours towards TMT in Kayin (Karen) State, Myanmar. Methods Semi-structured interviews were conducted with villagers from study villages (N = 31) and TMT project staff (N = 14) between March and July 2015. Results Community engagement consisted of a range of activities to communicate the local malaria situation (including anti-malarial drug resistance and asymptomatic malaria), the aims of the TMT project, and its potential benefits. Community engagement was seen by staff as integral to the TMT project as a whole and not a sub-set of activities. Attitudes towards TMT (including towards community engagement) showed that developing trusting relationships helped foster participation. After initial wariness, staff received hospitality and acceptance among villagers. Offering healthcare alongside TMT proved mutually beneficial for the study and villagers. A handful of more socially-mobile and wealthy community members were reluctant to participate. The challenges of community engagement included time constraints and the isolation of the community with its limited infrastructure and a history of conflict. Conclusions Community engagement had to be responsive to the local community even though staff faced time constraints. Understanding the social context of engagement helped TMT to foster respectful and trusting relationships. The complex relationship between the local context and community engagement complicated evaluation of the community strategy. Nonetheless, the project did record high levels of population coverage.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Role: ConceptualizationRole: Data curationRole: Formal analysisRole: InvestigationRole: MethodologyRole: Project administrationRole: SoftwareRole: SupervisionRole: Writing – original draftRole: Writing – review & editing
                Role: Data curationRole: Formal analysisRole: InvestigationRole: MethodologyRole: SoftwareRole: ValidationRole: Writing – review & editing
                Role: ConceptualizationRole: Project administrationRole: ResourcesRole: SupervisionRole: ValidationRole: Writing – review & editing
                Role: ConceptualizationRole: Project administrationRole: ResourcesRole: SupervisionRole: ValidationRole: Writing – review & editing
                Role: Project administrationRole: ResourcesRole: SupervisionRole: ValidationRole: Writing – review & editing
                Role: ConceptualizationRole: InvestigationRole: MethodologyRole: Project administrationRole: ResourcesRole: SupervisionRole: Writing – review & editing
                Role: InvestigationRole: Project administrationRole: ResourcesRole: Supervision
                Role: ConceptualizationRole: Funding acquisitionRole: InvestigationRole: MethodologyRole: Project administrationRole: ResourcesRole: SupervisionRole: ValidationRole: Writing – review & editing
                Role: Editor
                Journal
                PLoS One
                PLoS ONE
                plos
                plosone
                PLoS ONE
                Public Library of Science (San Francisco, CA USA )
                1932-6203
                18 July 2019
                2019
                : 14
                : 7
                : e0219983
                Affiliations
                [1 ] Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
                [2 ] Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
                [3 ] Lao-Oxford-Mahosot Hospital-Wellcome Trust Research Unit (LOMWRU), Microbiology Laboratory, Mahosot Hospital, Vientiane, Laos
                [4 ] Southeast Asian Regional Centre for Archaeology and Fine Arts (SEAMEO SPAFA), Bangkok, Thailand
                [5 ] The Ethox Centre, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
                IUMPA - Universitat Politecnica de Valencia, SPAIN
                Author notes

                Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

                Author information
                http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8981-3910
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0004-2572
                http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1187-2712
                Article
                PONE-D-19-01638
                10.1371/journal.pone.0219983
                6638989
                31318964
                5c92331e-c54c-4b6c-8fa4-46ba03d9faf5
                © 2019 Adhikari et al

                This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

                History
                : 18 January 2019
                : 5 July 2019
                Page count
                Figures: 3, Tables: 4, Pages: 16
                Funding
                Funded by: funder-id http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100004440, Wellcome Trust;
                Award ID: 096527
                Award Recipient :
                This work is funded in part by a Wellcome Trust Provision for Public Engagement and a Wellcome Trust Strategic Award (096527). The Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit are funded by the Wellcome Trust (106698/Z/14/Z).
                Categories
                Research Article
                People and Places
                Population Groupings
                Ethnicities
                Thai People
                Science Policy
                Science and Technology Workforce
                Careers in Research
                Scientists
                People and Places
                Population Groupings
                Professions
                Scientists
                Medicine and Health Sciences
                Research and Analysis Methods
                Research Design
                Survey Research
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                Biology and Life Sciences
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                Psychology
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                Learning
                Human Learning
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                Pharmacology
                Drugs
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                Antibiotics
                Biology and Life Sciences
                Microbiology
                Microbial Control
                Antimicrobials
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                Custom metadata
                The data are available upon request to the Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit Data Access Committee ( http://www.tropmedres.ac/data-sharing) complying with the data access policy ( http://www.tropmedres.ac/_asset/file/data-sharing-policy-v1-0.pdf).

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