Optimal antiretroviral treatment (ART) adherence is critical in achieving virologic suppression. Most people living with HIV (PLWH) experience HIV-related challenges which may be compounded by the experience of stressful life events (SLE) with adverse effects on their ART adherence and therefore affecting viral suppression. The highest concentration of people living with HIV (PLWH) is in low-and-middle income countries (LMIC) which are challenged with high rates of poverty and unemployment. Limited published data is available on the impact of the stressful life events experienced by PLWH in LMIC on ART adherence and viral load. A secondary analysis was conducted using data collected in a randomised control trial (RCT) which investigated the impact of a real-time electronic adherence monitoring device (EAMD) on ART adherence in ART-naïve individuals to assess the impact of SLE on ART adherence and viral load. Part A of this dissertation includes the study proposal/ protocol as approved by the Departmental Research Committee and the Human Research Committee at the University of Cape Town. Part B details the literature review which examined all published studies which report on stressful life events in PLWH, with ART adherence or a viral load as an outcome. The review included published literature from 2008 to 2019. Part C includes the publish-ready manuscript which details the statistical analysis, results and interpretation of the secondary analysis of impact of SLEs on ART adherence and viral load among 200 individuals living with HIV. Part D, appendices were included as supporting documentation necessary for the conduct of this research and as required for the completion of this dissertation. The American Psychological Association (APA) 6th Edition referencing style was used for Part A and B. The Vancouver referencing style was used for Part C as per the instructions for authors by the Aids and Behaviour journal guidelines.

The Clinical Infectious Diseases Research Group [CIDRI] has conducted high impact research over the last decade in Cape Town specifically in the townships of Khayelitsha and Mannenberg. None of this research would have been possible without robust strategies to recruit and retain study participants. Four different completed studies with different study designs have been selected, which will show the different approaches to participant recruitment into clinical research. This review will evaluate this process in relation to the approved protocol recruitment strategy, the amendments, which were required for modifications, the ability to retain participants to the end and the composition of staff used to achieve study outcomes. This entire process has been recognised as a necessary research skill and the term recruitmentology has become a practice pivotal to the research process. Recruitmentology has been unpacked to illustrate how minorities have been recruited, overlooked and over researched in the United States (US), and that experience has given a new perspective to the processes involved. Although in the South African context we do not have the identical issues to the US, these ideas can be translated in our circumstances, as both research populations can be considered as marginalised. We are challenged in the township of Khayelitsha with service disparities, which are generally impacted by the presence of clinical research groups. Although Khayelitsha has three large Day Hospital facilities, a newly built 150 bedded secondary level hospital and 11 local clinics, offering a consistently high standard of care; it remains a challenge. The CIDRI group partnered with the health services, supporting them with extra staff in the way of nurses, doctors and clinical research workers, while in return benefiting from the health system by being able to conduct effective studies. This has been and continues to be a mutually beneficial relationship, as CIDRI has been supportive to health services and the service has been a research partner of many research protocols including one of the studies being reviewed. Through the process of reviewing the databases of these four different CIRDI studies, we can examine the successes, challenges and a possible model of recruitment in the township of Khayelitsha. These studies have been chosen as they have been successfully completed by CIDRI and the databases have been locked. Each study has a different study design, from a pragmatic randomised control study, a cross sectional study, a seasonal follow-up and longitudinal study. Close attention will be paid to proposed recruitment strategy as per approved protocols, amendments (which impacted the recruitment process), staff structure, time frames of recruitment, retention and impact on study outcomes. This review will attempt to answer the following: 1. Was the proposed recruitment strategy followed as per study design and approved study protocol? 2. Was the overall recruitment impacted by staffing structure and allocated recruitment time frames? 3. How were study outcomes impacted by recruitment and retention? 4. Tuberculosis/Human Immuno-deficiency Virus TB/HIV were the diseases of study in all four studies, do these two diseases have specific challenges which impact recruitment and retention?

Background: There is a high incidence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M tb) infection and active Tuberculosis (TB) disease among adolescents in high TB burden countries, such as South Africa (SA), which indicates that clinical trials assessing vaccine-induced protection are critical in this age group. In educating adolescents regarding TB and clinical trials it is important to ensure that this population has received some relevant prior information if they are approached for clinical research, as well as for the benefits to their own health. Method: Applied theatre was used to educate and inform adolescents to improve their knowledge about TB and clinical research. The script used was based on a young mother's decision to enroll her baby as a participant in a TB vaccine trial and the questions asked by her family and the community. The story played itself out in public transport, a local clinic and the participants' household, using singing, dancing and rap in the local dialect. The message was visually delivered by actors from the Worcester Senior Secondary (WSS) School's drama class in an adolescent-friendly format to learners. A pre-performance multiple choice knowledge survey was completed by the study population before they watched the play and approximately seven days after the play the same knowledge survey was completed as a post-test. Results: Of the total study population 4.56% of the adolescents had had TB previously and 39.15 % had been involved in TB research. A high number of the adolescents (97. 7 0 %) had heard about TB and 78. 39 % indicated that they heard about TB at school. The majority of adolescents knew that TB is contagious: 82.92 % in pre-and 97.26 % in post-test. The results for mode of prevention (covering your mouth when coughing / sneezing) in the pre-test for all the schools were above 9 1.28 %. In all tested schools combined there was a slight knowledge increase from pre-to post-test that TB is curable. There was a significant knowledge improvement (P=0.009) for the question: "TB can easily be cured if you take your treatment?" Reassuringly, 9 4.84 % (pre-test) and 9 2.78 % (post-test) indicated that they would consult a medical doctor or go to the clinic if they thought they had TB. Clinical research knowledge did not improve. Conclusion: Using applied theatre to sensitize a rural adolescent population to TB-related clinical research was a novel approach to educate and convey sensitive information to potential study participants. Through theatre, SATVI raised awareness and established strong partnerships with the Department of Basic Education (DoE), school principals, teachers and adolescents as well as indirectly with their parents. It created a platform to engage with the adolescents as well as sensitizing them for a future clinical trial.

In this multi-method dissertation project I conduct policy analysis and utilize results from a discipline-wide survey (n=258) to examine the intersection of Writing Studies researchers’ disciplinary affiliation, research context, and personal disposition in relation to the local implementation of federal policy regarding human subjects research. I elaborate on the context of this project, discussing the September 2015 release of the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to revise and update the Common Rule, 45.CFR Part 46, and the Conference on College Composition and Communication’s formal comment in response to the proposed rule’s provisions. I discuss the process of designing and implementing the survey used to establish a disciplinary representation of Writing Studies researchers’ perceptions of, and experiences with, IRBs. The results of this survey (Chapter 4) indicate how Writing Studies researchers presently interface with the process of local policy implementation. In Chapter 5, data from the survey are set against the Final Rule (released January 19, 2017) to provide a new taxonomy for Writing Studies researchers regarding how to interface with IRBs. Finally, the major theoretical contribution is articulated in Chapter Six: a call for human subjects researchers in Writing Studies to consider IRBs as justice-oriented, rather than positivist, in design and purpose. I argue increasingly reciprocal relationships between IRBs and Writing Studies researchers will help ensure Writing Studies research is not overly influenced by IRB review, nor that Writing Studies researchers are unwilling or unable to interface with IRBs to build more ethical and robust research agendas.

abstract: This action research study utilized a mixed-method approach to better understand the current situation of the research administration community with respect to addressing the training and development needs for new and junior staff within Arizona State University’s Fulton Schools of Engineering and encompass other departments and units at Arizona State University. The study extended on those efforts of support by implementing an innovative resource library as a foundation, to decipher the needs of the research administration community and better equip staff through successful training, development and learning experiences. This study assessed Arizona State University’s research administration training and development platforms and other institutional platforms (e.g., National Council of University Research Administrators, National Science Foundation, Grants.gov, and National Institutes of Health) – to garner the necessary ingredients and components to creatively design, develop and implement the innovative library. This study involved two naturally occurring groups consisting of a cohort of research administration staff with varying levels of experience. Specifically, a group of junior and a group of senior research staff were invited to participate in this study. The groups delivered on their experience, perceptions, evaluations, and ideas, which also aided in the necessary modifications to the library resource. For instance, following the delivery from the group of senior participants’ adjustments and modifications aided in the preparation of the junior participants' performance in the library portal. The junior participants performance experience in the library embodied and measured their perceptions, experience, confidence, and comfort levels. Performances within the site enabled the participants to clearly identify and clarify areas of need within the research administration infrastructure within Fulton Schools of Engineering and at Arizona State University overall. In addition, encouragement for future iterations of the library resource were strongly declared and proposed. The revelations brought about through the discussion modules from both groups gave insight through the eyes of participants (e.g., seniors and juniors); which heightened and strengthened the results of the study. Overall, the outcomes received and tracked through the discussion modules from both groups suggested that the current training and development research administration infrastructure within Arizona State University’s research community needed adjustments. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Higher and Postsecondary Education 2020

The purpose of this study was to determine the perceived value of certification to research administration professionals and demographic characteristics. This study sought to determine whether those who have attained the Certificate in Research Administration (CRA) perceive a benefit to their careers and why most research administrators do not attempt certification. The primary research question studied is concerned with the relationship between perceived value of the CRA to research administration professionals and demographic characteristics. The survey instrument, Research Administrator Survey, was electronically distributed to 277 research administrators based in the Southeast region of the National Council of University Research Administrators (NCURA). A total of 230 surveys were completed and returned for a usable return rate of 83%. The research revealed that CRAs consistently perceived the value of certification to be greater than non-certified research administrators; however, the majority of both CRAs and non-certified research administrators perception was that becoming certified would, or did, enhance their knowledge as research administrators. Overall, the majority of non-certified research administrators reported that their reason for not attempting certification was that they did not believe there was any benefit to becoming certified, but when all the other reasons for not attempting certification are closely examined, the responses taken as a whole indicate that as many non-certified research administrators may perceive a benefit to becoming certified as those who do not perceive a benefit. In summary, the data indicated that non-certified research administrators do perceive some benefit to certification. It is recommended that the Research Administrators Certification Council (RACC) attempt to be more closely aligned with the with National Council of University Research Administrators (NCURA) and the Society of Research Administrators International (SRA) since research administrators report having extremely positive professional development experiences with these organizations. It is further recommended that research be conducted to determine if curriculum at the university level should be developed in research administration management. Finally, it is recommended that NCURA and SRA engage in research to determine how many people are involved in the profession of research administration to help make decisions in regard to continuing adult education.

The decline in funding allocations to state-supported institutions of higher education (IHEs) in Kentucky has compelled these universities to secure alternate forms of funding to support their capacity to meet public expectations. These other funding streams include increasing enrollment numbers, securing philanthropic support, and acquiring sponsored funding for research projects and programs. While smaller statesupported IHEs face resource and credibility challenges in their pursuit to expand external funding activity, these Emerging Research Institutions (ERIs) continue to strategically bolster their respective research enterprises amid shrinking budgets and increased competition for external funds. Research administration offices are the institutional units responsible for facilitating and supporting the pursuit of sponsored research and are integral to the research missions of these ERIs as an essential structure that enhances the capacity to secure externally sponsored funding. This study explores how external and internal environmental changes influenced adaptive responses, including reconfiguring institutional policies, modifying the role of research administrators, and restructuring offices of sponsored programs to increase the amount of ERI federal research productivity and procurement. This research employs qualitative methods to gain an understanding of how ERIs adapt to a decline in state appropriations and reconfigure organizational structures and roles to facilitate adaptation. The chief research officer (CRO) and staff of sponsored programs offices (SPOs) at three purposefully selected state-supported ERIs in Kentucky were given pre-surveys and interviewed. Next numerous documents related to each site’s research enterprise were collected and analyzed to understand how sponsored program offices are structured, how duties are officially codified and delineated, and what policies are in place to govern research activity. Key findings in the study support the importance of upper-administrative knowledge building and leadership in expanding the ERI research enterprise. Additionally, strategic resource allocation, organizational restructuring, a strong policy base and a focus on research development activities are critical elements in bolstering competitive external funding procurement.

abstract: This project presents a mixed methods analysis of proposal editing in sponsored research administration at U.S.-based universities. As sponsored research funding has become increasingly competitive, universities have sought to support their faculty and research infrastructure by offering proposal editing services as a component of the proposal development process. However, the relative newness of proposal and research development as fields, combined with prior studies that show a general lack of research into proposal editing and faculty perceptions of proposal development resources, mean that these areas can benefit from additional focused research. This study aimed to answer two primary research questions: How do universities approach and offer proposal editing as a component of the proposal development process, and what are faculty reactions to editing services as a resource during that same process? The study consisted of two components: a survey of 32 faculty members' perceptions of editing services as an element of their proposal development, and interviews with ten research administrators and editors to discuss how editing services function within the proposal preparation process. Despite a small sample size and disciplinary homogeneity, the survey results showed that demand for institutionally provided editing services varies by research field and activity level, but that faculty showed noticeable interest in at least having the option of an editor reviewing their proposals prior to submission. Interview participants agreed that faculty who are new or early in their careers, along with faculty who speak English as a second language, are especially interested in receiving editing services. Editors themselves provide various levels of edit, dependent on their own backgrounds, editing timelines, and faculty receptiveness to the edits. When provided, edits focus on compliance and grammar, but deeper edits help academic styles of writing transition into more persuasive grant writing styles to strategically position the proposal. As proposal editing services become more widespread as a way of supporting faculty and increasingly proposal quality and success, universities should implement editing services according to faculty demand and needs. Careful implementation can ensure that editing services fully support faculty while making a meaningful impact on a university's research development strategies and goals. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Technical Communication 2019