Development and validation of a global positioning system-based "map book" system for categorizing cluster residency status of community members living in high-density urban slums in Blantyre, Malawi.

ABSTRACT: A significant methodological challenge in implementing community-based cluster-randomized trials is how to accurately categorize cluster residency when data are collected at a site distant from households. This study set out to validate a map book system for use in urban slums with no municipal address systems, where classification has been shown to be inaccurate when address descriptions were used. Between April and July 2011, 28 noncontiguous clusters were demarcated in Blantyre, Malawi. In December 2011, antiretroviral therapy initiators were asked to identify themselves as cluster residents (yes/no and which cluster) by using map books. A random sample of antiretroviral therapy initiators was used to validate map book categorization against Global Positioning System coordinates taken f

SUBMITTER: MacPherson P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3649638 | biostudies-literature | 2013 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature