Using Participatory Mapping to Inform a Community-Randomized Trial of HIV Counseling and Testing

Abstract

Participatory mapping and transect walks were used to inform the research and intervention design and to begin building community relations in preparation for Project Accept, a community-randomized trial sponsored by the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). NIMH Project Accept is being conducted in five sites within four countries including Thailand, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Tanzania. Results from the mapping exercises informed decisions about the research design such as defining community boundaries, and identifying appropriate criteria for matching community pairs for the trial. The mapping also informed intervention related decisions such as where to situate the services. The participatory methods enabled each site to develop an understanding of the communities that could not have been derived from existing data or data collected through standard data collection techniques. Furthermore, the methods lay the foundation for collaborative community research partnerships.

Looking to the future: South African men and women negotiating HIV risk and relationship intimacy

“…This paper is based on qualitative data from the NIMH Project Accept (HPTN 043) study (see Genberg et al 2008; Khumalo-Sakutukwa et al 2008; Maman et al 2009 for further details of this study). Forty-eight communities in four countries (South Africa, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, and Thailand) were enrolled in the study.…”

“…Participants were randomly selected in both control and intervention communities at baseline and may or may not have participated in the CBVCT programs available in their community. The in-depth interviews were semi-structured based on a standard field guide that was used across all sites (for details see Maman et al 2009). Questions focused on issues concerning HIV-related attitudes, norms, and behaviours of the individual as well as their perceptions of partners’, family members’, friends’ and community members’ attitudes and behaviour.…”

Using mixed methods to visualize the water-health nexus: identifying problems, searching for solutions

“…Community mapping is a CBPR technique that employs the knowledge of local populations in a spatial representation of their community (Maman et al, 2009). While useful for visualizing physical features of an area, community mapping can also be used to impart knowledge on land use, cultural practices and social management (Chambers, 2006;Robiglio, Mala, & Diaw, 2003), transforming this knowledge into a more conventional cartographic form.…”

A participatory web map service: the case of Theewaterskloof Dam

“…Participatory research methods were used in conjunction with GIS in the formative phase of a multisite community-based social mobilization trial. Maman et al (2009) conducted a similar HIV-focused study in Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Thailand and South Africa. Panek and van Heerden (2013) used PGIS to identify sites for water provision in rural Koffiekraal in South Africa and aimed to map households located more than 200 m from cart water.…”