The four Rs: recognise, respond, report, refer: supporting global health research to respond to vulnerabilities in virtual interactions
| Actions | Examples from our partnership | |
| Recognise | Build rapport through repeat phone interviews. Disseminate the use of recognised signals that community members can safely use to convey distress in emergency situations without alerting the perpetrators and thereby endanger themselves further. | In Bangladesh, the ARISE research team found that conducting multiple short interviews on consecutive days, rather than a single long interview, was better for building rapport remotely. Participants were found to be more comfortable in sharing their experiences on sensitive issues like SGBV after a couple of sessions. Repeat interviews with a single participant also allowed researchers to better understand the participant and identify and refine approaches to explore more in-depth information. ARISE partners have been innovating with local and contextually relevant code words in service provision or interview to signal the need for help. “I spilled the palm oil” is being trialled as a signal word in the Rainbo Initiative in Sierra Leone. |
| Respond | Ensure that participants have information about safeguarding leads and how to contact them. | ARISE teams in all study sites texted the number of the safeguarding lead to participants ahead of the virtual interviews, so they had it stored in their phones in advance, if required. Professional counselling sessions were conducted for co-researchers at APHRC in response to the different safeguarding issues, which had been pointed out by co-researchers in different debrief and reflection sessions. |
| Report | Engage the community and co-researchers in identification of potential safeguarding issues and appropriate support provision. | The safeguarding lead at APHRC regularly shares (anonymised) emerging safeguarding issues to the team. This has enabled co-researchers to be proactive in recognising and reporting safeguarding issues. Consequently, this has prompted researchers to respond promptly. |
| Refer | As in table 1. | As in table 1. |
ARISE, Accountability for Informal Urban Equity; SGBV, sexual and gender-based violence.