Applied Field Methods in Public Health Project 2022

Running head: APPLIED FIELD METHODS IN PUBLIC HEALTH
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Applied Field Methods in Public Health: Prevention of Malaria among Pregnant Women in
Ghana
Name
Institutional Affiliation

APPLIED FIELD METHODS IN PUBLIC HEALTH
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Identify the issue of the scenario using qualitative methods: What is the issue? What
kind of qualitative methods you used to identify the issue and how you did that?
The issue in this scenario is the high vulnerability of pregnant women to Malaria in
rural Ghana. Malaria is still a great concern in rural areas of Ghana despite the great efforts
that health sectors have put in place to roil out malaria control interventions. Rogerson et al.
(2018) cited that, in high transmission geographical areas in sub-Saharan Africa, the risk of
malaria infection in areas with high rates of transmission increases during pregnancy. The
risk is high in the first and second trimester of pregnancy. Malaria infection in pregnancy
may cause adverse effects for both the mother and the child. Malaria is more prevalent in
younger pregnant women than their older counterparts. Malaria is also common among
women who are pregnant for the first or second time as compared to those in subsequent
pregnancies (Rogerson et al., 2018).
I identified the issue using additional literature review. I searched through online
libraries using key words such as ‘malaria in pregnancy’, ‘the burden of malaria’ and
‘malaria in Ghana’. I then identified articles that were relevant to the issue by reading through
the abstracts. I then identified the full articles that were informative on the issue of malaria
among pregnant women in Ghana.
The aim of the project is to explore the knowledge of the population on malaria and
identify risk factors associated with the use of insecticide treated nets (ITNs) for malaria
prevention among pregnant women in Ashanti, Ghana
Identify the objectives and research questions/hypothesis of the project
The main objective of the research is:
To explore the knowledge on malaria and identify risk factors associated with the use of ITNs
for malaria prevention among pregnant women in Ashanti, Ghana
The specific objectives are:

APPLIED FIELD METHODS IN PUBLIC HEALTH
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1. To explore the knowledge on malaria among pregnant women in Ashanti, Ghana
2. To identify risk factors associated with the use of ITNs for malaria prevention among
pregnant women in Ashanti, Ghana
The project will seek to address the following research questions:
1. How aware is the population of Ashanti Ghana on Malaria?
2. What are the risk factors associated with the use of ITNs for malaria prevention
among pregnant women in Ashanti, Ghana?
Identify what are target population, investigative population, and sample population of
the project
The target population are women in Ghana
The investigative study population is pregnant women in Ghana
The sample population included pregnant women in Ashanti
Identify the potential quantitative study design(s), and among them which one is the
most feasible (based on the assumption that you are limited for time and budget) to
address the project’s objectives
The two qualitative study designs that can be used in this study are the survey research
designs and the causal-comparative design which is also called the ex post facto design. The
survey research design is used in situations where the dependent variable is observable
immediately and the focus is to explain the cause and effect of a relationship between groups.
The survey research is used to measure the characteristics of a given population through the
use of statistical methods (Apuke, 2017).
The Survey research design is appropriate for addressing the research objectives in this
project. The Survey research is collection of data through the responses of individuals to
various individuals (Ponto, 2015). Survey research is used to obtain data from the sample
population quickly; hence saving time (Ponto, 2015). The researcher will use questionnaires