"Losing the tombola": a case study describing the use of community consultation in designing the study protocol for a randomised controlled trial of a mental health intervention in two conflict-affected regions.

BACKGROUND: Community consultation is increasingly recommended, and in some cases, required by ethical review boards for research that involves higher levels of ethical risk such as international research and research with vulnerable populations. In designing a randomised control trial of a mental health intervention using a wait list control, we consulted the community where the research would be undertaken prior to finalising the study protocol. The study sites were two conflict-affected locations: Grozny in the Chechen Republic and Kitchanga in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. METHODS: Group discussions with a range of community members were held in both study sites. Facilitators used a prepared set of questions to guide the discussions and to solicit feedback on the value of the research as well as on the study design. Specific questions were asked about enablers and barriers to participation in the research. RESULTS: Six groups were held in Grozny and thirteen in Kitchanga. The majority of individuals and groups consulted supported the research, and understood the purpose. In Grozny, the main concern raised was the length of the waiting period. Barriers to both waiting and returning for follow up were identified. In Kitchanga, there was a strong reaction against the wait list control and against randomisation. The consultations provided information on unanticipated harms to the community, allowing changes to the study design to mitigate these harms and increase acceptability of the study. It also served to inform the community of the study, and through engaging with them early, helped promote legitimacy and joint responsibility. CONCLUSION: Community consultation prior to finalising the study design for a mental health intervention trial in two humanitarian settings proved feasible. Our experience reinforces the importance of community consultation before the study design is finalised and the importance of broad consultation that includes both community leaders and the potential study participants.

Transport infrastructure surveillance and monitoring by electromagnetic sensing: the ISTIMES project.

The ISTIMES project, funded by the European Commission in the frame of a joint Call "ICT and Security" of the Seventh Framework Programme, is presented and preliminary research results are discussed. The main objective of the ISTIMES project is to design, assess and promote an Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)-based system, exploiting distributed and local sensors, for non-destructive electromagnetic monitoring of critical transport infrastructures. The integration of electromagnetic technologies with new ICT information and telecommunications systems enables remotely controlled monitoring and surveillance and real time data imaging of the critical transport infrastructures. The project exploits different non-invasive imaging technologies based on electromagnetic sensing (optic fiber sensors, Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite platform based, hyperspectral spectroscopy, Infrared thermography, Ground Penetrating Radar-, low-frequency geophysical techniques, Ground based systems for displacement monitoring). In this paper, we show the preliminary results arising from the GPR and infrared thermographic measurements carried out on the Musmeci bridge in Potenza, located in a highly seismic area of the Apennine chain (Southern Italy) and representing one of the test beds of the project.