PhD Opportunity: Menopausal Health; co-developing an intervention for healthcare professionals to improve support to women during menopausal transition in Zimbabwe

This is an exciting opportunity for a candidate with a background in health services research and social sciences in Zimbabwe. They will be registered at the University of Bristol, within Bristol Medical School and located for the duration of the PhD at The Health Research Unit Zimbabwe (THRU-Zim), within the Biomedical Research and Training Institute (BRTI) in Harare, Zimbabwe.

The student will be supervised by Dr Sarah Drew, Sociologist with specialist interest in menopause and ageing, University of Bristol; Professor Chipo Hungwe, Sociologist with specialist interest in ageing and gender, Midlands State University; Professor Celia Gregson, NIHR Global Health Research Professor of Health Ageing, Co-director of The Health Research Unit Zimbabwe; and a clinical academic with expertise in menopausal health.

Background:

Populations in Africa are ageing rapidly, with more women than ever transiting through the menopause. Our group’s research has identified a need for further information and advice about the menopause in Zimbabwe. Policy has hitherto focused on maternal sexual and reproductive health, but the policy landscape is changing, signalling the need to develop services for older people.

PhD project details:

The project aims to co-produce an intervention for healthcare professionals in Zimbabwe to support women during the menopausal transition. This aims to improve the health of midlife women.

The project objectives are to:

1. Identify existing interventions for healthcare professionals to support midlife women (aged 40 – 60 years) in managing menopausal health, which are potentially applicable to women in Zimbabwe
2. Understand the current support available to midlife women around the time of menopausal transition in Zimbabwe
3. Use the identified information to co-produce an intervention for healthcare professionals to support women during menopausal transition
4. Pilot and evaluate the intervention to understand factors that impact implementation and assess perceived acceptability to providers and recipients.

Project methods:

This project will be carried out in four stages:

Stage 1

Conduct a rapid review of existing interventions for healthcare professionals to support women managing their menopausal health from other contexts, to identify potential interventions that may be of benefit to midlife women in Zimbabwe.

Stage 2

Conduct in-depth interviews with stakeholders to gain an understanding of current service provision. Conduct focus groups with midlife women to understand their experiences and identify their support needs.

Stage 3

Hold two co-production workshops with stakeholders to design the intervention. Interventions may include training materials and information resources for healthcare professionals.

Stage 4

Pilot the intervention at four sites to evaluate the process of implementation using ethnographic research methods. This will comprise observations and interviews with providers and recipients.

Training:

The student will be embedded within the Wellcome funded CREATE PhD programme, and have access to all learning resources at The Health Research Unit Zimbabwe (THRU-Zim). The student will also benefit from the local early career research programme that includes access to seminars and training, as well as online materials and courses through the University of Bristol.

Setting:

They will be registered at the University of Bristol, within Bristol Medical School and located for the duration of the PhD at The Health Research Unit Zimbabwe (THRU-Zim), within the Biomedical Research and Training Institute (BRTI) in Harare, Zimbabwe. They will be required to visit the UK once a year, travel is funded. A laptop will be provided by the University of Bristol.

University of Bristol, Bristol Medical School

Bristol Medical School is the largest and one of the most diverse Schools in the University of Bristol, with approximately 1100 members of staff, 1350 undergraduate, 250 postgraduate taught and 300 postgraduate doctoral research students. The Head of School is Professor Chrissie Thirlwell. The Medical School has two departments: Population Health Sciences and Translational Health Sciences. The Medical School is a leading centre for research and teaching across these areas. Research in the School is collaborative and multi-disciplinary, with staff coming from a wide range of academic disciplines and clinical specialties. This PhD will be centred in Translational Health Sciences, within the NIHR Global Health and Ageing research Unit, led by Professor Celia Gregson.

Candidate requirements:

Eligibility Criteria

• IELTS in the last 2 years with overall score at least 7, and no score lower than 7 in any domain
• Masters in a relevant discipline including Public Health, Health Policy, or Social Science
• Experience in qualitative research
• Experience in carrying out health services research
• Fluent in English and Shona (in speaking and writing)
• The right to live and work in Zimbabwe

Experience in research coordination including obtaining ethical approvals and stakeholder engagement is desirable, as is research experience in co-production methods.

Funding:

The PhD is funded by the University of Bristol and includes full PhD tuition fees and a stipend of $1250 per month to cover living costs in Zimbabwe. Stipend and tuition fee funding is available for a maximum of 3 years. Whilst we plan that the PhD will be conducted full time, it would be possible to conduct the PhD part time over a longer period.

How to apply:

All applications must be submitted using the University of Bristol Online PhD application system

When applying using the online application system, candidates must select the Translational Health PhD from the programme choice.

Full details on what to include in your application can be found in the Admissions Statement.

Personal statement: Please provide a personal statement that describes your training and experience so far, your motivation for doing a PhD, for doing this specific PhD, and for applying to the University of Bristol, and why you think we should select you. We are keen to support applicants from minority and under-represented backgrounds (based on protected characteristics) and those who have experienced other challenges or disadvantages. We encourage you to use your personal statement to ensure we can take these factors into account.

Contacts: sarah.drew@bristol.ac.uk  Interested and suitably qualified candidates apply by the closing date of 5pm UK time on 30^th September 2024. The start date is 13^th January 2025.