Untitled - Memorial University's Digital Archives Initiative - Memorial ...

4 .3: STUDY PLANNIN G AND THE CONS I DERATIONS
Because the planning stages o f this stud y wer e done in
St . J ohn ' s , Newfoundland , Canada, a c on s i de rable dista nce from
the study area, in:p ortant methodological c onsiderations h ad to
be made . Two aspects of the study design, judged a s mos t
affected by these limitations, were the devel opme nt of t h e
q uestionnaires (the measuring i ns t r ument ) [ or us e i n t he
study , and t he time interval for achieving the desi red study
goals. s trategies adopted to minimise the e ffects of these
l i mitations are as follows :
Ins t rum ent dev e lopment: Ti me and f i na nc ial co ns t r a i nt s
prevented the organisation o t: a p i l ot survey ne eded to refine
study questionnaires. Samp les of t h e s e questionnaires were
forwarded t o a number of individuals involved i n maternity
care i n the As ha nt i region , Ghana , for comments and review
based on their patient e xpe r i e nc e s . opini o ns were als o
s imilarly sough'.: f rom a practising Obstetrician a nd
Gynaecologist i n Kumasi and i n St . John's on t he mor e tec h­
nica l aspec t s of mor bidity asseaseent; i n t he Kumas i setting .
Time for mor bidity as s e s s ment: A on e week period f rom t he 7t h
to 14th pos t pa r t um days was chosen as t he best time f or
patient follow up . This time i nterval was chosen because i t