2016 – 2017: Principal Investigator
Evaluation of an Intervention Designed to Increase Community Ownership and Engagement in Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) Prevention and a Quality Improvement Approach to Strengthen NCD Diagnosis and Treatment in Community Health Centers in Vietnam
Funded through the Pfizer Foundation
Single group, pre/post intervention feasibility study of a pilot community-based, integrated NCD prevention and control program that aims to: 1) increase the number of community members who are aware of NCD risk factors, and 2) increase the number of adult community members who are screened for diabetes mellitus (DM) and hypertension (HTN) and increase the number of DM/HTN patients who are treated according to national guidelines primary care community clinics.
2013 – 2014: Principal Investigator
Formative Research to Improve the Promotion of the Lactational Amenorrhea Method (LAM) and Exclusive Breastfeeding (EBF) in the MAHEFA USAID/ Madagascar Program, Ambilobe District, Diana Region
Funded through USAID AID-OAA-A-12-00005, Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance III Project
Cross-sectional, mixed methods study designed to gather information on family planning and breastfeeding practices among postpartum women to inform improvements to promotion of LAM and EBF in selected USAID/Madagascar programs.
2010 – 2014: Principal Investigator
Development and Evaluation of an Intervention to Increase Family Planning Use among Female Sex Workers in Kenya
Funded through USAID GHO-A-00-09-00016-00, Prevention Technologies Agreement
Two-phase study: Phase I was a qualitative, descriptive study conducted to inform intervention development to improve dual contraceptive method use among female sex workers (FSW) in Kenya to prevent unintended pregnancy.
Phase II was a quasi-experimental, two-group, pre-/post-intervention study to assess the effectiveness of the intervention. The objectives of the study are to: 1) Develop an intervention designed to increase contraceptive use among FSWs by incorporating formative data and behavioral theory and by involving the target audience and service providers in the development of the intervention. 2) Examine the effectiveness of the intervention at increasing non-barrier modern contraceptive use and dual method use among FSWs. 3) Assess the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention; and 4) Estimate the unit cost to provide these services to one client.
2010 – 2013: Principal Investigator
Improving Access to and Uptake of Postpartum Family Planning Service through Enhanced Family Planning in Immunization Services
Funded through USAID GPO-A-00-08-00001-00, PROGRESS Project
Cluster randomized controlled trial of a behavioral intervention designed to reduce unmet contraceptive need among postpartum women in Rwanda. Specific objectives are to: 1) Evaluate the effectiveness of a theory-based intervention to increase contraceptive prevalence among postpartum women attending immunization services; 2) Examine the cognitive factors targeted by the intervention and to determine which, if any, of these factors mediate the effect of the intervention on contraceptive use among the study population; 3) Determine the feasibility of implementing the intervention through the collection of process data and the perspectives of both providers and clients; and 4) Determine costs associated with the all facets of the intervention, to inform potential scale-up.
2009 – 2010: Principal Investigator
Examining the Capacity of Private Sector Health Providers in Kenya as Resources for Scale-Up of Adult Male Circumcision Activities for HIV Prevention
Funded through the Male Circumcision Consortium, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Cross-sectional, descriptive study designed to inform strategies to facilitate roll-out and scale-up of adult male circumcision as an HIV prevention strategy in Kenya. Study objectives were to: 1) Identify and describe private sector healthcare facilities and the providers they employ, in terms of capacity and infrastructure to perform MC services as defined in the WHO minimum package; 2) Assess providers’ training needs so that they can adequately provide the services outlined by the WHO minimum package; 3) Estimate the upfront costs of bringing private health facilities up to meet the minimum medical standards necessary to perform safe, quality MC; and 4) Measure the average unit cost of providing the MC service package to one client, including overhead, clinician time, supplies and equipment.
2009 – 2010: Principal Investigator
An Evaluation of the Integration of Family Planning into Prevention of Mother-to-Child HIV Transmission Services in Zimbabwe
Funded through USAID GHS-I-00-05-00005-0, HIV/AIDS Partnership Project (PSP Zimbabwe)
Cross-sectional descriptive study. The goal of this evaluation was to determine how the Partnership Project FP/PMTCT training intervention affected provider practice with regards to FP service provision for PMTCT clients and to identify areas for improvement in the intervention design and implementation. Evaluation objectives included to: 1) Describe how Nurse Tutor/Clinical Instructors have used the information and skills they acquired during training in their work, including cascade training; 2) Describe if and how providers implemented knowledge and skills gained during the training to initiate or improve the offer of FP services to PMTCT clients; 3) Determine the level of support of clinic managers for the integration of FP into their clinic-based PMTCT services; 4) Ascertain what factors have facilitated the integration of FP into PMTCT services within health care facilities; 5) Identify challenges/barriers to integrating FP into PMTCT services within health care facilities and potential solutions/improvements that could be made to future FP/PMTCT integration interventions.
2008 – 2009: Principal Investigator
Assessing Management of Late DMPA Clients in Madagascar
Funded through USAID GPO-A-00-05-00022-0, Contraceptive Research and Technologies
This was a cross-sectional descriptive study designed to identify strategies to improve injectable contraceptive client management in health care facilities. Specific study objectives were to: 1) Assess the prevalence of lateness and degree of lateness among injectable contraceptive clients who return to the clinic for follow-up injections; 2) Explore individual-level client factors associated lateness; 3) Assess barriers to on-time return to the clinic among DMPA clients; 4) Assess provider- or clinic-related barriers to timely return for re-injection; 5) Document current clinic management practices of late returning DMPA clients; and 6) Estimate the effect of extending the reinjection grace period from one to two weeks on discontinuation.