Research Assistants, Centre of Excellence in Women and Child Health at Aga Khan University Hospital

Job Summary

We are seeking to hire four (4) Research Assistants who will be community and facility based. They will be based at public health facilities in Kaloleni and Rabai sub counties in Kilifi County. The role may include some local travel between sites and to the community. The role also requires shift work including nights, weekends and public holidays.

This position is required to contribute to participant recruitment tracing and follow-up, data collection for research studies of the African Research Leader fellowship project as well as related studies led by the same team.

The successful candidates will be required to screen and recruit participants at health facilities, administer informed consent and collect data for the study. They will also contribute to the follow-up of study participants in the community and when they return for study visits and health facility visits. Roles also include some complex data collection approaches such as special assessments for children, referral of participants and offering initial emotional support to participants.

They will also be required to comply with stipulated guidelines related to informed consent, data collection and data handling. They will be required to be sensitive and considerate throughout the encounter with participants, their families, health facility staff, community health teams and peer mothers.

 He / She will be the face of the study to the community and will be required to communicate to families, health facility staff, community health teams and peer mothers as appropriate and at all times to display a professional attitude.

Responsibilities

• Liaise with health facility staff to identify potentially eligible study participants for recruitment into specific studies and sub-studies;
• Screen participants for eligibility;
• Provide eligible participants with information about the study and administer Informed consent;
• Data collection – both qualitative and quantitative data;
• Conduct simple clinical measurements for the study;
• Support health facility staff in obtaining and recording other data relevant for the study;
• For participants, conduct home follow-up visits to collect relevant data for the study;
• Perform child neuro assessments and other structured assessments and collect the resultant data;
• Provide initial emotional and psychological support for study participants during and after special data collection sessions e.g. Health economics data collection and verbal autopsies;
• Support the referral of participants to the health facility for clinical management;
• Regularly clean data based on the query reports shared by the data management team;
• Support the development of study documentation such as checklists and tracking forms
• Support translation of study documents
• Create daily and monthly summary reports for activities as guided by the Study Coordinator.
• Attend training sessions and obtain relevant competency in data collection and informed consent and other skills essential for delivery of his/her role; and
• Any other responsibility as allocated by the Study Coordinator/Research Officer. This may include activities in the community and activities in other studies within the Centre of Excellence Women and Child Health.

 Requirements

• Diploma in Community Health/Development, Psychology or any health-related field;
• BSc in Community Health/Development, Psychology or any health-related field will be an added advantage;
• Experience in data collection for research studies or other programs;
• Experience in community-based research activities and/or working at a health facility;
• Experience in mobile data collection tools;
• Fluency in local language will be an added advantage; and
• Ability to work independently.