Palliative Care Research in Africa: Consensus Building for a Prioritized Agenda
For which topic were research priorities identified?
palliative care
In which location was the research priority setting conducted?
Africa
Why was it conducted at all?
Palliative care research in Africa is in its relative infancy, with dedicated financial support extremely limited. Therefore, setting research priorities to optimize use of limited resources is imperative.
What was the objective?
to develop a prioritized research agenda for palliative care in Africa
What was the outcome?
a list of 16 research topics
How long did the research prioritization take?
September 2010 - April 2012
Which methods were used to identify research priorities?
workshop
How were the priorities for research identified exactly?
Step 1: workshop 1: group discussion regarding the question: What topics should we prioritize for palliative care research on the African continent?, group participants then reported back to plenary, 41 topics were identified. Step 2: workshop 2 with nominal group technique: participants were asked to identify the main areas of research that need to be investigated over the next five years from the list generated in workshop 1, each idea was then discussed, participants were then asked to rank the 10 most important ideas, ideas that received the highest sum scores were selected as final recommendations for the prioritized APCRN agenda
Which stakeholders took part?
Palliative care professionals and researchers. Workshop 1: 49 participants: 20 (54.1%) from universities, 7 (18.9%) from nongovernmental organizations, 10 (27%) from hospices. Workshop 2: 7 from universities, 1 from a hospice, 2 from a cancer care center, 4 from nongovernmental organizations.
How were stakeholders recruited?
Participants were recruited via a conference.
Were stakeholders actively involved or did they just participate?
Stakeholders were mere participants of the research prioritization process; they were not actively involved in the process.