Participatory action research to co-design a culturally appropriate COVID-19 risk communication and community engagement strategy in rural Pakistan.

Background: Community engagement has shown to be fundamental component of the response to previous disease outbreaks. This study aimed co-design and implement a culturally appropriate COVID-19 risk communication and community engagement strategy with a resource-poor rural community in Northwest Pakistan. Methods: Participatory Action Research (PAR) was conducted from January 2021 to March 2022. Five PAR meetings took place with community members (n = 30) to: (1) explore how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted on the community; (2) identify challenges to limit the spread of the virus; (3) identify and implement solutions to these challenges; and (4) highlight the enablers, challenges and knowledge of the cultural context needed to optimize safety during emergencies. Focus group discussions (N = 6) with community members not involved in the PAR meetings (N = 50) and children of the community (N = 26) were conducted following the PAR meetings. Thematic analysis of the PAR and focus group data was conducted. Results: Delivery of messages on how to keep families safe, provision of personal protective equipment and improved water systems were part of the strategies taken by the community to create awareness and reduce the spread of COVID-19. Nine themes were identified: Attitudes to the pandemic: From skepticism to acceptance, Changing attitudes about vaccination: rumors and trust, COVID-19 and Faith, Social impact of the pandemic, Access to water, Resource mobilization: personal protective equipment, Spaces where collaborative effort can bring to solutions, Agents of change, and Empowerment of women. Discussion: The participatory approach of this research allowed understanding of the challenges faced by the community to engage in behavior change strategies to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and enabled the community to find sustainable solutions. Engagement with the community empowered men and women to be agents of change and promoted necessary precautionary actions to reduce the risk of infection within their community. Conclusion: Participatory approach highlighted the importance of engaging with and integrating to local culture and values to overcome challenges such as gender imbalance and distrust. Findings of this study are relevant to others working in diverse cultural settings in similar crises events regardless of particular cultural variations.

Medical colleges' challenges and coping strategies in implementing accreditation standards in Pakistan

Objectives: To explore the challenges faced by medical colleges and coping strategies used in implementing accreditation standards by Pakistan Medical Commission during accreditation inspection 2019. Methods: In this qualitative case study, four medical colleges and their affiliated hospitals from three cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan were selected through purposive sampling. Data was collected through focus group discussions (FGD) through Open-ended questions, based on CIPP (context, input, process, and product) model. Each focus group comprised of Dean, the Director Department of Medical Education (DME) and the Medical Director of the hospital. Data were thematically analyzed and results were based on the CIPP model. Results: Three themes identified were administrative challenges, accreditation challenges and resource challenges. The administrative challenges theme was further explained under subthemes of rules and regulation challenges, documentation and record challenges, and DME-related challenges. The accreditation-related challenges theme was explored in-depth with subthemes of accreditation process-related challenges, accreditation standards-related challenges and curriculum-related challenges. The resource challenges theme was described under sub-themes of infrastructure-related challenges, human resources and financial challenges. The commonest coping strategies adopted by medical colleges were establishing DME, emergency preparatory meetings of staff, and hiring staff on an emergency basis, to overcome administrative, accreditation and resource challenges respectively. Future suggestions for improving the accreditation process in the local context were highlighted. Conclusion: Main challenges identified were administrative challenges, accreditation challenges and resource challenges. Coping strategies by the medical colleges for these challenges are highlighted. The accreditation body should harmonize the process of accreditation with medical colleges and other stakeholders.

Polishing the Teaching of Affective Domain in Online Education.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the overall education system in general and medical education in particular. While the cognitive and psychomotor domains were regularly taught in most medical schools, the affective domain was mostly left to informal teaching through role modelling. With the switch to online teaching, the dynamics of role modelling has changed, and the students do not observe their clinical teachers communicating with patients and colleagues. Therefore, the affective domain now needs to be taught more explicitly than ever to inculcate empathy, integrity, motivation, confidence, communication, time management, teamwork, advocacy, and respect. The five levels of affective domain namely; receiving, responding, valuing, organising and characterisation, can be taught to some extent. This paper describes the different strategies which can be utilised for online education for each level of the affective domain, and help students learn valuing emotions of others, that is an essential attribute required by a competent physician. Key Words: Affective domain, Teaching, COVID-19, Undergraduate medical students.