35 selected nurses and midwives from across Ghana have undergone training in basic data analysis using “Jamovi” a free open-source data analysis software.

The workshop, held at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), followed a grant awarded to Kweku Ibrahim Duah, a nurse and data analyst for the Global Health and Infectious Diseases Research Group (GHID) at Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research.

The grant was awarded by the Global Research Nurses through the Burdett Trust for Nurses with the objective of training early-career researchers from the nursing and midwifery field in data analysis.

“Jamovi is a free and open-source data analysis software, unlike popular software like SPSS and STATA. Jamovi is powered by R, statistical software used by millions of people around the world.

“The software was very new to them. The first time most participants heard of ‘Jamovi’ was during their application for the program. It was helpful because it has a simple intuitive interface which they could follow throughout," Kwaku Duah explained.

He added, “I believe the event has been very successful. The participants were very responsive and showed a lot of interest."

Dr. Melvin Agbogbatey, a research fellow with the Global Health and Infectious Diseases Research Group (GHID) at the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine (GHID-KCCR) believes that clinical practice can be enhanced with the application of data analysis.

“Evidence generation is arguably a defining characteristic of most scientific professions. Perhaps even more so in the clinical sciences where lives are at stake.

“In this workshop, what we sought to do was to expose nurses and midwives to the basic tools in data analysis as well as open-source software they can use.

“We wanted to expose them to the broader ecosystem within which data analysis occurs, essentially so they know what tools and techniques are available to them, and they know how much more powerful their practice can be when they apply scientific data analysis,” he said.

Emilia Oduro, a participant from the Western Region, was excited the workshop was designed for beginners like herself.

“I was expecting the workshop to start from a higher level of data analysis but, they started from the basics.

“I have learned a lot about Jamovi. It is easy to learn and use when analyzing data unlike other software,” Winfred Bemma Boakye, a midwife, also shared her experience.

“I am very passionate about research and I came here expecting to understand and learn more about data analysis.

“I have been thrilled by all I have learned about data, what it is, and how to analyze data,” she said.

Robert Asampong, an epidemiologist and biostatistician, was a facilitator of the workshop. He shared that the training has empowered nurses and midwives to go back to their respective health facilities and garner insight from the data that is all around them.

Global Research Nurses is a community of practice that aims to empower nurses and midwives to pursue a research career, regardless of their work setting or role. Their mission is to make research accessible to every nurse and midwife, allowing them to choose their level of involvement, from evidence-based practice to leading research initiatives. Global Research Nurses is a programme funded by the Burdett Trust for nursing.