A Web-Based Audio Computer-Assisted Self-interview Application With Illustrated Pictures to Administer a Hepatitis B Survey Among a Myanmar-Born Community in Perth, Australia: Development and User Acceptance Study.

BACKGROUND: Self-administered paper or electronic surveys can create accessibility issues for people with language barriers and limited literacy, whereas face-to-face interviews can create privacy issues and give rise to reporting biases, particularly in the context of sensitive subject matters. An audio computer-assisted self-interview (ACASI) offers an alternative mode of survey administration, and its use has been tested against other survey modes to determine whether the presence of a background narration helps overcome literacy and privacy issues. There are still gaps with the ACASI survey administration because audio narration alone does not assist respondents with limited literacy in choosing response options. To overcome literacy issues, a few studies have used illustrated pictures for a limited number of response options. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to illustrate all the questions and response options in an ACASI application. This research is part of a larger study comparing different modes of survey administration (ACASI, face-to-face interviews, and self-administered paper surveys) to collect data on hepatitis B knowledge, attitudes, and practices among the Myanmar-born community in Perth, Australia. This study describes the 2-phase process of developing a web-based ACASI application using illustrated pictures. METHODS: The first phase was the preparation of the ACASI elements, such as questionnaire, pictures, brief descriptions of response options, and audio files. Each element was pretested on 20 participants from the target population. The second phase involved synchronizing all the elements into the web-based ACASI application and adapting the application features, in particular, autoplay audio and illustrated pictures. The preprototype survey application was tested for user acceptance on 5 participants from the target population, resulting in minor adjustments to the display and arrangement of response options. RESULTS: After a 12-month development process, the prototype ACASI application with illustrated pictures was fully functional for electronic survey administration and secure data storage and export. CONCLUSIONS: Pretesting each element separately was a useful approach because it saved time to reprogram the application at a later stage. Future studies should also consider the participatory development of pictures and visual design of user interfaces. This picture-assisted ACASI survey administration mode can be further developed and used to collect sensitive information from populations that are usually marginalized because of literacy and language barriers.

Comparison of the ACASI Mode to Other Survey Modes in Sexual Behavior Surveys in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa: Systematic Literature Review.

BACKGROUND: Reliable data about sexual behaviors is fundamental in the prevention and control of HIV, hepatitis, and other sexually transmitted infections. Generally, sexual behaviors are regarded as a sociocultural taboo in Africa and Asia, and this results in biased sexual behavior survey data due to social desirability. Various modes of survey delivery, including audio computer-assisted self-interviews (ACASIs), have been investigated to improve data quality. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to review studies that compared the ACASI mode to other survey modes in sexual behavior surveys in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa to ascertain the impact of survey mode on responses to sexual behavior questions. METHODS: A systematic literature review was conducted according to the Joanna Briggs Institute Manual for Evidence Synthesis. The review protocol was registered at PROSPERO (International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews). Six databases were searched. RESULTS: A total of 21 papers were included. The face-to-face interview (FTFI) mode was the survey mode most frequently compared to the ACASI mode. Among the most commonly reported outcome variable groups, ACASI participants were more likely to report sexual behaviors, such as "forced sex," "multiple partners," "transactional sex," and "ever had sex," as compared to FTFI participants. In addition to the survey mode effect, other factors were found to have had an impact on data quality, for example, participant characteristics, social norms, study design, and data collection setting. CONCLUSIONS: Use of ACASIs for administering sexual behavior surveys among populations in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa demonstrated higher reports for some sexual behaviors than the use of FTFIs. More studies that compare the ACASI mode to other survey modes would improve our understanding of the usefulness of ACASIs in sexual behavior surveys in these regions.

Determinants of violence towards care workers working in the home setting: A systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Home care is a rapidly growing industry. Violence towards home care workers is common, while also likely underreported. This violence adversely affects the physical and mental health of both workers and care recipients. The current study aims to identify and appraise recent evidence on the determinants of violence towards care workers working in the home setting. METHODS: Six electronic databases: the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), EMBASE, Informit, Medline, PsycINFO, and Web of Science, were systematically searched. A systematic review was conducted in accordance with the Joanna Briggs Institute manual for evidence synthesis. RESULTS: A total of 18 papers met the inclusion criteria. All were cross-sectional surveys. The majority of studies were from the United States. The most commonly investigated associations were those between the medical history of clients, workers' apprehension of violence, worker-client relationship, or care plans, and any form of violence or verbal abuse. CONCLUSION: Violence was common in clients with cognitive disorders, substance abuse disorder, and limited mobility; toward workers who feared that violence might happen; toward those who had very close or very distant worker-client relationships; and when care plans were not inclusive of clients' needs. The current review highlights a gap in evidence on determinants of violence towards care workers working in the home setting, and suggests potential areas to be addressed to reduce such violence.

Translating best practice into real practice: Methods, results and lessons from a project to translate an English sexual health survey into four Asian languages.

BACKGROUND: Migrants are underrepresented in population health surveys. Offering translated survey instruments has been shown to increase migrant representation. While 'team translation' represents current best practice, there are relatively few published examples describing how it has been implemented. The purpose of this paper is to document the process, results and lessons from a project to translate an English-language sexual health and blood-borne virus survey into Khmer, Karen, Vietnamese and Traditional Chinese. METHODS: The approach to translation was based on the TRAPD (Translation, Review, Adjudication, Pretesting, and Documentation) model. The English-language survey was sent to two accredited, independent translators. At least one bilingual person was chosen to review and compare the translations and preferred translations were selected through consensus. Agreed translations were pretested with small samples of individuals fluent in the survey language and further revisions made. RESULTS: Of the 51 survey questions, only nine resulted in identical independent translations in at least one language. Material differences between the translations related to: (1) the translation of technical terms and medical terminology (e.g. HIV); (2) variations in dialect; and (3) differences in cultural understandings of survey concepts (e.g. committed relationships). CONCLUSION: Survey translation is time-consuming and costly and, as a result, deviations from TRAPD 'best practice' occurred. It is not possible to determine whether closer adherence to TRAPD 'best practice' would have improved the quality of the resulting translations. However, our study does demonstrate that even adaptations of the TRAPD method can identify issues that may not have been apparent had non-team-based or single-round translation approaches been adopted. Given the dearth of clear empirical evidence about the most accurate and feasible method of undertaking translations, we encourage future researchers to follow our example of making translation data publicly available to enhance transparency and enable critical appraisal.