Shelley Lees
Biographic Data
| ID | 6334187 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Shelley Lees |
| GIVEN NAMES | Shelley |
| FAMILY NAME | Lees |
| SIGNATURE | LEES S |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 0 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 18 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2007 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 0 |
Using an analogue-digital hybrid clinical data management platform during a two-dose preventive Ebola virus vaccine trial in Goma, the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Clinical trials in settings with intermittent or non-existent internet and power connectivity, for example during humanitarian emergencies, present challenges in the synchronisation of data across different sites, in addition to accessing a centralised database in real-time. To overcome these, we designed a novel hybrid analogue/digital data management system which was deployed during the rapid implementation of a Phase III evaluation of a two-do…
Political and Community Logics of Emergent Disease Vaccine Deployment
With a growing number of emerging infectious diseases and the rapid development of vaccines during epidemics and pandemics, public health officials at the global and national level have reported concerns about vaccine hesitancy, often attributing this to a problem of misinformation and poor understanding of risk. However, social scientists have found that vaccination perceptions are complex and multi-faceted. By focusing on the historical, cultur…
Factors associated with attendance to a participatory gender training programme – A secondary analysis of data from the Maisha study
Participatory gender training is often included in programmes aimed at preventing intimate partner violence (IPV) in low- and middle-income countries. Higher attendance is associated with greater benefit. Using data from two trials, conducted in Tanzania from 2014 to 2019 (MAISHA study), we retrospectively examined associations between individual and group-level factors and attendance at a gender training intervention, among women in established …
A rapid qualitative methods assessment and reporting tool for epidemic response as the outcome of a rapid review and expert consultation
During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Methods Sub-Group of the WHO COVID-19 Social Science Research Roadmap Working Group conducted a rapid evidence review of rapid qualitative methods (RQMs) used during epidemics. The rapid review objectives were to (1) synthesize the development, implementation, and uses of RQMs, including the data collection tools, research questions, research capacities, analytical approaches, and strategies use…
Pathways to reduced physical intimate partner violence among women in north-western Tanzania
Intimate partner violence (IPV) affects over one-in-four women globally. Combined economic and social empowerment interventions are a promising IPV prevention model. However, questions remain on the mechanisms through which such interventions prevent IPV, and whether standalone social empowerment interventions can work in the absence of an economic component. This secondary analysis of MAISHA Study data (north-western Tanzania) explores pathways …
Negotiating the Role of Anthropological Evidence in Medical Research during Health Emergencies
The 2014–2016 West African Ebola outbreak is often cited as a watershed moment for the social science of epidemics. Anthropologists played a key role in clarifying the social, economic and political dimensions of the epidemic, highlighting both how outbreak control measures were disrupting social practices and how they could be adapted to reflect local realities and experiences. Whilst undoubtedly significant, this narrative of anthropology’s suc…
Changing gear
Long-term research projects are not always able to adapt to a new crisis and incorporate characteristics and approaches of rapid research to produce useful data quickly. Project AViD was a programme of research that ran between 2018 and 2022 to examine factors that shape vaccine confidence. The project initially focused on five country case studies looking at vaccines for Ebola, Measles, Rift Valley Fever and Zika. The COVID-19 pandemic emerged d…
Understanding hard-to-reach communities
As progress to eliminate trachoma is made, addressing hard-to-reach communities becomes of greater significance. Areas in Tanzania, inhabited by the Maasai, remain endemic for trachoma. This study assessed the effectiveness of Mass Drug Administration (MDA) through an ethnographic study of trachoma amongst a Maasai community. The MDA experience in the context of the livelihoods of the Maasai in a changing political economy was explored using part…
Exploring the feasibility and acceptability of integrating screening for gender-based violence into HIV counselling and testing for adolescent girls and young women in Tanzania and South Africa
Most stakeholders found GBV screening acceptable and feasible. Key principles that should be in place for young women to be asked safely about GBV during HIV counselling and testing included respect for confidentiality, a youth-friendly and non-judgmental environment, and a functioning referral network
Lessons learned from engaging communities for Ebola vaccine trials in Sierra Leone
These findings provide an in-depth understanding of how interdisciplinary community liaison and social science teams can work with a clinical team to strengthen trust. The four R's suggest the ways in which trust relations are central to CE and confidence in vaccine trials, and could offer an approach to CE in vaccine trials
Prevalence of intimate partner violence and abuse and associated factors among women enrolled into a cluster randomised trial in northwestern Tanzania
ClinicalTrials.gov - ID NCT02592252 , registered retrospectively on 13 August 2015
It is just the way it was in the past before I went to test’
Within the broader social context of a rural African setting, HIV prevention counselling based on a Western model of individual-level agency seems unlikely to make a significant contribution to sexual behaviour change until there is greater recognition by counsellors of the ways in which power dynamics within many relationships influence behaviour change. More culturally relevant counselling strategies and messages and infrastructural improvement…
Power, fairness and trust
The paper firstly emphasises the value of social science in the setting up of clinical trials, in terms of providing an in depth understanding of context and social dynamics. Secondly, the paper suggests the importance of a close collaboration between research and community engagement to effectively confront political and social dynamics, especially in the context of an epidemic
Feasibility and acceptability of delivering adolescent health interventions alongside HPV vaccination in Tanzania
BACKGROUND: Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination offers an opportunity to strengthen provision of adolescent health interventions (AHI). We explored the feasibility of integrating other AHI with HPV vaccination in Tanzania. METHODS: A desk review of 39 policy documents was preceded by a stakeholder meeting with 38 policy makers and partners. Eighteen key informant interviews (KIIs) with health and education policy makers and district officials …
Considerations for a Human Rights Impact Assessment of a Population Wide Treatment for HIV Prevention Intervention
Increasing attention is being paid to the potential of anti‐retroviral treatment ( ART ) for HIV prevention. The possibility of eliminating HIV from a population through a universal test and treat intervention, where all people within a population are tested for HIV and all positive people immediately initiated on ART , as part of a wider prevention intervention, was first proposed in 2009. Several clinical trials testing this idea are now in inc…
A qualitative study of participant adherence in a randomized controlled trial of herpes suppressive therapy for HIV prevention in Tanzania
Poor participant adherence to treatment may contribute to lack of impact in some biomedical HIV prevention trials. This qualitative study explored adherence in a randomized controlled trial of herpes suppressive therapy to reduce HIV acquisition and infectivity among 1305 Tanzanian women. The trial found participants completed 72% of visits on treatment; 52-56% of women on treatment had > or = 90% adherence by pill count estimate; and between six…
A model for community representation and participation in HIV prevention trials among women who engage in transactional sex in Africa
Actively engaging communities in effective partnerships for the design and implementation of HIV prevention research is vital to the successful conduct of ethically robust, locally-appropriate clinical trials in developing countries. This is especially true in vulnerable at-risk sub-populations, where definitions of "community", "participation" and "representation" can be difficult to apply. This study was conducted to investigate the feasibility…
The benefits of participatory methodologies to develop effective community dialogue in the context of a microbicide trial feasibility study in Mwanza, Tanzania
Participatory techniques were instrumental in promoting meaningful dialogue between the research team, study participants and community representatives in Mwanza, allowing researchers and community representatives to gain a shared understanding of project-related priority areas for intervention
No prominent works on this page.
The benefits of participatory methodologies to develop effective community dialogue in the context of a microbicide trial feasibility study in Mwanza, Tanzania
Participatory techniques were instrumental in promoting meaningful dialogue between the research team, study participants and community representatives in Mwanza, allowing researchers and community representatives to gain a shared understanding of project-related priority areas for intervention
A model for community representation and participation in HIV prevention trials among women who engage in transactional sex in Africa
Actively engaging communities in effective partnerships for the design and implementation of HIV prevention research is vital to the successful conduct of ethically robust, locally-appropriate clinical trials in developing countries. This is especially true in vulnerable at-risk sub-populations, where definitions of "community", "participation" and "representation" can be difficult to apply. This study was conducted to investigate the feasibility…
A qualitative study of participant adherence in a randomized controlled trial of herpes suppressive therapy for HIV prevention in Tanzania
Poor participant adherence to treatment may contribute to lack of impact in some biomedical HIV prevention trials. This qualitative study explored adherence in a randomized controlled trial of herpes suppressive therapy to reduce HIV acquisition and infectivity among 1305 Tanzanian women. The trial found participants completed 72% of visits on treatment; 52-56% of women on treatment had > or = 90% adherence by pill count estimate; and between six…
Considerations for a Human Rights Impact Assessment of a Population Wide Treatment for HIV Prevention Intervention
Increasing attention is being paid to the potential of anti‐retroviral treatment ( ART ) for HIV prevention. The possibility of eliminating HIV from a population through a universal test and treat intervention, where all people within a population are tested for HIV and all positive people immediately initiated on ART , as part of a wider prevention intervention, was first proposed in 2009. Several clinical trials testing this idea are now in inc…
It is just the way it was in the past before I went to test’
Within the broader social context of a rural African setting, HIV prevention counselling based on a Western model of individual-level agency seems unlikely to make a significant contribution to sexual behaviour change until there is greater recognition by counsellors of the ways in which power dynamics within many relationships influence behaviour change. More culturally relevant counselling strategies and messages and infrastructural improvement…
Power, fairness and trust
The paper firstly emphasises the value of social science in the setting up of clinical trials, in terms of providing an in depth understanding of context and social dynamics. Secondly, the paper suggests the importance of a close collaboration between research and community engagement to effectively confront political and social dynamics, especially in the context of an epidemic
Feasibility and acceptability of delivering adolescent health interventions alongside HPV vaccination in Tanzania
BACKGROUND: Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination offers an opportunity to strengthen provision of adolescent health interventions (AHI). We explored the feasibility of integrating other AHI with HPV vaccination in Tanzania. METHODS: A desk review of 39 policy documents was preceded by a stakeholder meeting with 38 policy makers and partners. Eighteen key informant interviews (KIIs) with health and education policy makers and district officials …
Prevalence of intimate partner violence and abuse and associated factors among women enrolled into a cluster randomised trial in northwestern Tanzania
ClinicalTrials.gov - ID NCT02592252 , registered retrospectively on 13 August 2015
Lessons learned from engaging communities for Ebola vaccine trials in Sierra Leone
These findings provide an in-depth understanding of how interdisciplinary community liaison and social science teams can work with a clinical team to strengthen trust. The four R's suggest the ways in which trust relations are central to CE and confidence in vaccine trials, and could offer an approach to CE in vaccine trials
Understanding hard-to-reach communities
As progress to eliminate trachoma is made, addressing hard-to-reach communities becomes of greater significance. Areas in Tanzania, inhabited by the Maasai, remain endemic for trachoma. This study assessed the effectiveness of Mass Drug Administration (MDA) through an ethnographic study of trachoma amongst a Maasai community. The MDA experience in the context of the livelihoods of the Maasai in a changing political economy was explored using part…
Exploring the feasibility and acceptability of integrating screening for gender-based violence into HIV counselling and testing for adolescent girls and young women in Tanzania and South Africa
Most stakeholders found GBV screening acceptable and feasible. Key principles that should be in place for young women to be asked safely about GBV during HIV counselling and testing included respect for confidentiality, a youth-friendly and non-judgmental environment, and a functioning referral network
Negotiating the Role of Anthropological Evidence in Medical Research during Health Emergencies
The 2014–2016 West African Ebola outbreak is often cited as a watershed moment for the social science of epidemics. Anthropologists played a key role in clarifying the social, economic and political dimensions of the epidemic, highlighting both how outbreak control measures were disrupting social practices and how they could be adapted to reflect local realities and experiences. Whilst undoubtedly significant, this narrative of anthropology’s suc…
Changing gear
Long-term research projects are not always able to adapt to a new crisis and incorporate characteristics and approaches of rapid research to produce useful data quickly. Project AViD was a programme of research that ran between 2018 and 2022 to examine factors that shape vaccine confidence. The project initially focused on five country case studies looking at vaccines for Ebola, Measles, Rift Valley Fever and Zika. The COVID-19 pandemic emerged d…
Factors associated with attendance to a participatory gender training programme – A secondary analysis of data from the Maisha study
Participatory gender training is often included in programmes aimed at preventing intimate partner violence (IPV) in low- and middle-income countries. Higher attendance is associated with greater benefit. Using data from two trials, conducted in Tanzania from 2014 to 2019 (MAISHA study), we retrospectively examined associations between individual and group-level factors and attendance at a gender training intervention, among women in established …
A rapid qualitative methods assessment and reporting tool for epidemic response as the outcome of a rapid review and expert consultation
During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Methods Sub-Group of the WHO COVID-19 Social Science Research Roadmap Working Group conducted a rapid evidence review of rapid qualitative methods (RQMs) used during epidemics. The rapid review objectives were to (1) synthesize the development, implementation, and uses of RQMs, including the data collection tools, research questions, research capacities, analytical approaches, and strategies use…
Pathways to reduced physical intimate partner violence among women in north-western Tanzania
Intimate partner violence (IPV) affects over one-in-four women globally. Combined economic and social empowerment interventions are a promising IPV prevention model. However, questions remain on the mechanisms through which such interventions prevent IPV, and whether standalone social empowerment interventions can work in the absence of an economic component. This secondary analysis of MAISHA Study data (north-western Tanzania) explores pathways …
Political and Community Logics of Emergent Disease Vaccine Deployment
With a growing number of emerging infectious diseases and the rapid development of vaccines during epidemics and pandemics, public health officials at the global and national level have reported concerns about vaccine hesitancy, often attributing this to a problem of misinformation and poor understanding of risk. However, social scientists have found that vaccination perceptions are complex and multi-faceted. By focusing on the historical, cultur…
Using an analogue-digital hybrid clinical data management platform during a two-dose preventive Ebola virus vaccine trial in Goma, the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Clinical trials in settings with intermittent or non-existent internet and power connectivity, for example during humanitarian emergencies, present challenges in the synchronisation of data across different sites, in addition to accessing a centralised database in real-time. To overcome these, we designed a novel hybrid analogue/digital data management system which was deployed during the rapid implementation of a Phase III evaluation of a two-do…
Medicine (17 works) · Environmental health (10 works) · Nursing (10 works) · Family medicine (9 works) · Sociology (9 works) · Tanzania (9 works) · Political science (8 works) · Socioeconomics (8 works) · Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health (7 works) · Viral Infections and Outbreaks Research (7 works)