Correction: Experiences of doctoral students enrolled in a research fellowship program to support doctoral training in Africa (2014 to 2018): The Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa odyssey.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0252863.].

Social presence and dynamics of group communication: An analysis of a health professionals WhatsApp group chats.

WhatsApp has become a medium of communication with the potential of promoting collaborative environment with peers, patients and general population. Till date, no analysis of professional WhatsApp groups' activities exists in physiotherapy. The official WhatsApp group chats of the Association of Clinical and Academic Physiotherapists of Nigeria (ACAPN) was analyzed. A total of 20760 chats were gleaned from July 2020 to June 2021. Videos, audios and emoticons were excluded in the analysis. Administrative permission to conduct was obtained from ACAPN leadership. Two consenting physiotherapists who had never deleted their ACAPN group chats shared and exported all chats to a Gmail. The social presence theory for group communication was used as the framework of analysis. Thematic content analysis was used to analyze qualitative data. Descriptive statistics of frequency and percentages were used to summarize data. Based on social presence theory classifications, interactive messages (64.5%) followed by cohesive messages (30%) were predominant. Members used the platform more for expression of emotions affectively (100%), referring explicitly to others' messages interactively (56.6%) and for greetings (phatic and salutation) cohesively (61.8%). Qualitative themes indicate that all three categories of social presence theory communications were present sufficiently with interactive category being the most common, as members used the WhatsApp platform to interact, construct and share knowledge. Group WhatsApp platform is a veritable means of communication and an indicator of level of social presence among Nigerian physiotherapists. Communication among Nigerian physiotherapists is mostly interactive, then cohesive and affective in terms of dynamics.

Patterns, facilitators and barriers to physical activity among Nigerian pregnant women.

Introduction: pregnancy is associated with sedentary behaviors and/or low levels of physical activity (PA). This study aimed to assess patterns, barriers, and facilitators of PA among pregnant women. Methods: a convergent parallel mixed method design study involving a concurrent collection of quantitative (n=198) and qualitative (n=36) data was carried out. Respondents were drawn from five selected health care facilities in Ile-Ife, Osun state, South-West, Nigeria. Physical activity was assessed using the pregnancy physical activity questionnaire. Focus group discussions were used to qualitatively explore barriers and facilitators of PA. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics, while qualitative data were analyzed using thematic content analysis. Results: the mean total PA score for the population was 118.663±81.522 mets-min/wk. While it was 118.743±92.062 mets-min/wk, 113.861±72.854 mets-min/wk, and 25.429±87.766 mets-min/wk for the first, second, and third trimester respectively. The respondents engaged more in moderate (44.27±37.07) than vigorous (13.89±18.87) intensity PA. Respondents in the third trimester had the highest and the least scores for household-related PA (45.7±33.0) and vigorous-intensity PA (10.0±14.0) respectively. Major themes that emerged on enablers and barriers of PA engagement during pregnancy were related to intrapersonal, interpersonal, availability of specialized health personnel and policy for PA, good built environment/neighborhood factors, and pervading cultural beliefs and myths about pregnancy. Conclusion: moderate intensity and household-related PA were most common among Nigerian pregnant women. Contextual facilitators and barriers to PA during pregnancy were largely related to intrapersonal, interpersonal, environmental or organizational, policy, and cultural factors.

Experiences of doctoral students enrolled in a research fellowship program to support doctoral training in Africa (2014 to 2018): The Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa odyssey.

BACKGROUND: The Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA) aims to transform higher education in Africa. One of its main thrusts is supporting promising university faculty (fellows) to obtain high quality doctoral training. CARTA offers fellows robust support which includes funding of their attendance at Joint Advanced Seminars (JASes) throughout the doctoral training period. An evaluation is critical in improving program outcomes. In this study; we, CARTA fellows who attended the fourth JAS in 2018, appraised the CARTA program from our perspective, specifically focusing on the organization of the program and its influence on the fellows' individual and institutional development. METHODS: Exploratory Qualitative Study Design was used and data was obtained from three focus group discussions among the fellows in March 2018. The data were analyzed using thematic approach within the framework of good practice elements in doctoral training-Formal Research Training, Activities Driven by Doctoral Candidates, Career Development as well as Concepts and Structures. RESULTS: In all, 21 fellows from six African countries participated and all had been in the CARTA program for at least three years. The fellowship has increased fellows research skills and expanded our research capacities. This tremendously improved the quality of our doctoral research and it was also evident in our research outputs, including the number of peer-reviewed publications. The CARTA experience inculcated a multidisciplinary approach to our research and enabled significant improvement in our organizational, teaching, and leadership skills. All these were achieved through the well-organized structures of CARTA and these have transformed us to change agents who are already taking on research and administrative responsibilities in our various home institutions. Unfortunately, during the long break between the second and the third JAS, there was a gap in communication between CARTA and her fellows, which resulted in some transient loss of focus by a few fellows. CONCLUSION: The CARTA model which builds the research capacity of doctoral fellows through robust support, including intermittent strategic Joint Advanced Seminars has had effective and transformative impacts on our doctoral odyssey. However, there is a need to maintain the momentum through continuous communication between CARTA and the fellows all through this journey.