RESUMO

BACKGROUND: Health professional students from high-income countries increasingly participate in short-term experiences in global health (STEGH) conducted abroad. One common criticism of STEGH is the inherent power differential that exists between visiting learners and the local community. To highlight this power differential, this paper explores perceived benefits as described by volunteer and community respondents and applies Maslow's hierarchy of needs to commonly identified themes in each respondent group. METHODS: A semistructured survey was used to collect qualitative responses from both volunteers and community members located in a Dominican Republic community, that is, a hotspot for traditionally conducted STEGH. Thematic analysis identified themes of perceived benefits from both respondent groups; each group's common themes were then classified and compared within Maslow's hierarchy of needs. RESULTS: Each respondent group identified resource provision as a perceived benefit of STEGH, but volunteer respondents primarily focused on the provision of highly-skilled, complex resources while community respondents focused on basic necessities (food, water, etc.) Volunteer respondents were also the only group to also mention spiritual/religious/life experiences, personal skills development, and relationships as perceived benefits. Applying Maslow's hierarchy thus demonstrates a difference in needs: community respondents focused on benefits that address deficiency needs at the bottom of the hierarchy while volunteers focused on benefits addressing self-transcendence/actualization needs at the top of the hierarchy. CONCLUSIONS: The perceived difference in needs met by STEGH between volunteers and the host community within Maslow's hierarchy may drive an inherent power differential. Refocusing STEGH on the relationship level of the hierarchy (i.e., focusing on partnerships) might help mitigate this imbalance and empower host communities.

Assuntos

Saúde Global/educação , Estudantes de Ciências da Saúde/psicologia , Voluntários/psicologia , República Dominicana , Haiti/etnologia , Recursos em Saúde , Humanos , Teoria Psicológica , Pesquisa Qualitativa , Seguridade Social , Espiritualidade , Inquéritos e Questionários

RESUMO

OBJECTIVE: Undocumented Haitian migrants to the Dominican Republic often live in impoverished communities called bateyes. These contexts present challenges for adolescent sexual health education. To inform development of appropriate adolescent education programs, this study assessed their general sexual health knowledge. METHODS: A locally developed sexual health knowledge survey was administered to 930 grade 7-12 adolescents attending six batey schools. Analysis of aggregated responses reviewed general demographics (e.g. age and sex), and identified top community sexual health concerns and most trusted information sources. RESULTS: Top concerns included menstruation (25.5%), HIV (21.8%), and family planning (13.3%); stratification by sex identified discordance around menstruation (89.2% female, 10.8% male) and HIV (67.1% male, 32.9% female), but not family planning (47.2% male, 52.8% female). Parents were identified as the most trusted information source, irrespective of concern. CONCLUSION: Community concerns around menstruation matches extant developing-world literature that links menarche with female stigma and school absence. Interest in HIV and family planning suggests targeted promoted efforts would be of benefit. Trust in parents is reflective of cultural traditions and suggests potential knowledge impacts arising from effective parental education.