/ Forschung

Study protocol published to evaluate the sustainability of KaziBantu

Kazi

Study protocol to evaluate the sustainability of the KaziBantu school-based health intervention for prevention of non-communicable diseases in marginalised communities - News from the KaziBantu project

Despite the effectiveness of community-based interventions to address the increasing prevalence of chronic, lifestyle-related diseases, the benefits thereof may disappear in the long term, due to a lack of maintenance, especially among disadvantaged and high-risk populations. This study will evaluate the long-term effectiveness and sustainability of the KaziKidz and KaziHealth interventions in promoting positive lifestyle changes among children and educators in disadvantaged schools in Gqeberha, South Africa, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The study has an observational, longitudinal, mixed-methods design. It will follow up all 160 educators, as well as 361 children (aged 10–16 years) identified as having an increased risk for non-communicable diseases, from the KaziBantu study. Data collection will take place 1.5 and 2 years post-intervention and includes quantitative and qualitative methods. The Reach, Efficacy, Adoption, Implementation, Maintenance framework will be employed to perform an impact analysis.

In settings where resources are scarce, sustainable and effective prevention programmes are needed. We hypothesise that a mixed-methods approach will increase understanding of the interventions’ capacity to lead to sustainable favourable health outcomes amid challenging environments, thereby generating evidence for policy.

This study is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation and can be read in detail here in the journal BMJ Open.

For more details:
Arnaiz P, Adams L, Müller I, Gerber M, Walter C, du Randt R, Steinmann P, Bergman M, Seelig H, van Greunen D, Utzinger J, and Pühse U (2021): Sustainability of a school-based health intervention for prevention of non-communicable diseases in marginalised communities: protocol for a mixed-methods cohort study. BMJ Open 2021;11:e047296. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-047296