Building consensus on priority areas for Sub-Saharan Africa’s ageing population research: an e-Delphi study protocol
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Date
2024
Authors
Okoh, Augustine C.
Onyeso, Ogochukwu K.
Ekemezie, Wendy
Oyinlola, Oluwagbemiga
Akinrolie, Olayinka
Kalu, Michael
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Public Library of Science
Abstract
Background
Improvement in medico-social services has increased life expectancy and population ageing in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). It was estimated that about 163 million people aged 65 and older will be resident in SSA by 2050. There is inadequate ageing research capacity in SSA which necessitates this study to (a) identify a decade-long ageing research opportunities, challenges, and solutions, and (b) prioritize critical ageing research areas and methodologies relevant to the SSA.
Methods
We designed an e-Delphi protocol following the Reporting Guideline for Priority Setting of Health Research with Stakeholder. The stakeholders will be researchers, practitioners, older adults, and caregivers purposively selected through snowballing quota sampling to complete three rounds of e-Delphi surveys. Round 1 will involve open-ended questions derived from the study objectives. Responses from round 1 will be prepared as a checklist for stakeholders to rate during rounds 2 & 3, using a 9-point scale: low priority (1–3), moderate priority (4–6), and high priority (7–9). The criterion for reaching a consensus will be ≥ 70% of stakeholders rating an item “high priority” and ≤ 15% as “low priority.” Quantitative data will be analysed using descriptive statistics, Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-rank test will be used to assess the stability of stakeholders’ responses, and qualitative comments will be analysed using content analysis.
Discussion and implications
Setting aging research/practice priorities will help maximize the benefits of research investment and provide valuable direction for allocating public and private research funds to areas of strategic importance.
Description
Open access article. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0) applies
Keywords
Sub-Saharan Africa , Ageing population , Ageing research
Citation
Okoh, A. C., Onyeso, O. K., Ekemezie, W., Oyinlola, O., Akinroli, O., & Kalu, M. (2024). Building consensus on priority areas for Sub-Saharan Africa’s ageing population research: An e-Delphi study protocol. PLoS ONE, 19(4), Article e0298541. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0298541