Researchers(Interviewer, Translator, Transcriptionist, Coding and Analysis) – KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation Vacancy Announcement

KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation

KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation (KNCV) is one of the leading international non-profit organizations dedicated to fighting tuberculosis (TB) worldwide. We are an international center of expertise for TB control that stimulates effective, efficient and sustainable tuberculosis control strategies in a national and international context. We are an organization of passionate TB professionals, including medical doctors, researchers, training experts, nurses and epidemiologists.

Over the past century, we have built a wealth of knowledge and expertise, initially by successfully driving back TB in the Netherlands, and subsequently by partnering in the fight against TB in over 40 countries worldwide.

We operate from a central office in The Hague in the Netherlands and additional country offices worldwide. KNCV raises funds from individual, institutional and corporate donors.  In Ethiopia, KNCV has more than 15 years of experience in comprehensive TB program support of the national program.

 Background

Ongoing transmission of drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) remains a major obstacle to the United Nations (UN) End-TB strategy. To reach targets of 90% reduction in tuberculosis (TB) incidence and mortality by 2035, implementation of new and improved diagnostic and treatment approaches are urgently warranted. This study will adopt a Triage-and-Treat approach using novel TB diagnostic technologies to guide implementation of short, all-oral regimens for DR-TB.

The TriAD study is a multi-center, multi-country Prospective Pragmatic Cohort study assessing the effectiveness, feasibility, acceptability, and cost-effectiveness of implementing the GeneXpert MTB/XDR (Xpert XDR; Cepheid) assay for rapid triage-and-treatment of DR-TB. The proposed study aims to screen approximately 4800 GeneXpert MTB/RIF or Ultra positive (irrespective of rifampicin resistance status) patients from 9 study sites in South Africa (2), Nigeria (6) and Ethiopia (5) to enroll 880 rifampicin-resistant (RR, cohort 1) and 400 isoniazid-resistant (HR, cohort 2) patients. The Xpert XDR assay that tests for resistance to isoniazid, fluoroquinolones and second-line injectable agents, will be implemented as a reflex test to provide rapid genotypic susceptibility testing for DR-TB detection and its result will be used for selection of appropriate, evidence-based all-oral DR-TB treatment regimens of shortest possible duration. In parallel, the molecular bacterial load assay will be used to provide bacillary load monitoring over the course of treatment to assess real-time treatment response.

Successful implementation of an intervention depends on its feasibility and acceptability to both intervention recipients (e.g., patients) and deliverers (e.g., HCWs). By assessing its feasibility, strengths and weaknesses of the approach will be revealed. It can help identify opportunities and threats in practice, which allows improvements to be made. If an intervention is considered acceptable, patients are more likely to adhere to treatment recommendations and to benefit from improved clinical outcomes. From the perspective of healthcare professionals, if the delivery of a particular intervention to patients is considered to have low acceptability, the intervention may not be delivered as intended (by intervention designers), which may have an impact on the overall effectiveness of the intervention. To fit an intervention to its user’s needs and thus improve acceptability; experiences, thoughts, believes and opinions of the users should be determined. Qualitative research allows us to retrieve rich data on the perspectives of people involved.

In Ethiopia, this project is carried out by the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI) in collaboration with   KNCV. The interviews will take place in five of the study sites (Alert, St Peter, Adama /Geda TIC, Dilchora and Borumeda Hospital) for TRiAD study.

Purpose of the position and organizational position

To ensure effective implementation of rapid triaging and the Xpert MTB/XDR, under the TrIAD project, KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation will conduct a feasibility and acceptability study, which consists of qualitative data collection and analyses. To collect data for the indicated research projects, data collectors who are experienced and competent in qualitative data collection are needed. The data collectors are co-responsible for field work, scheduling interviews, enrolling participants, obtaining informed consent, and keeping both electronically recorded and paper-based collected data safely until reported to the local research officer. Furthermore, the data collectors will perform in-depth qualitative interviews with health care workers, TB patients, and policymakers.

The interviewer also works closely with the local research officer and researchers from KNCV Head Quarters. He/she is also responsible for maintaining data quality in field, and daily collected data reporting.

Duties and responsibilities

Data Collection

• Identify participants based on eligibility criteria, obtain consent, and enroll participants into the study.
• Assign a participant identification number (PIN) according to the qualitative interview.
• Conduct in-depth interviews with health care workers (lab personnel, nurses, and clinicians), patients, and policymakers
• Ensure that all sessions are audio recorded (preferably) in English or otherwise the local language.
• Maintaining respectful interactions with participants
• Maintain participant confidentiality
• Arrange convenient setting for interview
• Coordinate and schedule Interviews
• Complete missed or incomplete interview (if any)
• Write interviews reports, right after interview is finished
• Maintain all procedures of data quality and ethical requirements
• Properly manage audio records and hand over the audio records and all related documents to the research coordinator when the interview is completed.
• Transcribe interviews verbatim
• Translate interviews from local language to English if needed

Data Analysis

• Open coding of transcripts
• Participate in meetings to discuss open coding with KNCV HQ researchers
• Build a coding tree and continue coding
• Forming themes and theories after discussion with KNCV HQ researchers
• Log coding process and choices made
• Find patterns and relations to construct a theory

 The analysis includes the following: 

•  Primary analysis includes: – supporting building a coding scheme, coding of transcripts (individually and as a team), participating in analysis meetings (weekly + as needed)
• Secondary Analysis includes: – identifying themes across interviews, providing coding reports to KNCVHQ, providing narrative reports on the themes to KNCVHQ
• Manuscript: Support with the writing of a manuscript incorporating results from all participating countries. This can, but is not limited to, supporting with literature for context setting, methods and results writing, and overall edits. This will be led by KNCVHQ.

Number Required: 2 (Two) 

Time Schedule :June 1, 2023 – June 30,2023

What do we offer?

• Rate contract based on the number of in-depth interviews (audio recordings) done, transcriptions done, translations done, and coding and analysis performed.

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Qualifications and experience:

• BSc/MSc/MPH degree in Nursing or Public Health or other related fields (sociology, psychology or psychiatry…) from an accredited higher education institution.
• Excellent experience in conducting in-depth qualitative interviews.
• Excellent experience in analyzing transcripts, coding, and building theories.
• Strong field coordination and organizational skills.
• Ability to follow deadlines, accuracy, documentation, and attention to detail .
• Training in good clinical practice (GCP), Research ethics, and data quality. control/assurance (preferred)
• Excellent interpersonal communication skills.
• Ability to work with others/teamwork, including collaborators
• Excellent oral and writing skills in a local language, and English.
• Willingness to take up additional responsibilities and training as needed.