MSF Scientific Day 2015

Abstract guidelines for three types of abstract

All abstracts must include:

  • Corresponding author name, email and phone number.
  • All abstracts must contain a statement on ethics and must have been approved by the relevant Medical Director. Research assessed by the Medical Director as not needing full ethics review must contain a statement ‘This [insert study type eg ‘retrospective analysis’] meets the criteria of the MSF ERB for exemption from full ethics review’. Please see the ERB Guidance document for which research meets this criteria.
  • Any conflict of interest/funding sources external to MSF.
  • Abstracts must include a note on their implications (impact) – eg for MSF or other programmes and policies - and a description of what will be done with the research findings.

1)Structured abstract (max 350 words)

Introduction

  • Describe the background situation/context.
  • Explain why MSF is in area/looking at this research issue. (Advocacy – in all presentations we ask presenters to describe the population and their situation and make it clear to the audience the need for MSF to be doing this research).
  • Describe the aim of the research and summarise the method used (eg, 'In a prospective cohort study, we aimed to establish whether...').

Methods

  • Where was the study site? And in what setting (eg, community/clinic/hospital)?
  • When was it done (from–to)? Who carried it out?
  • Who was enrolled in the study?How many participants?
  • What was the main study method and method of analysis?

Results

  • Give your main findings.
  • Give actual numbers as well as percentages.
  • Give 95 percent CIs where appropriate.
  • Any means/medians need SDs/IQRs around them.

Conclusion

  • Explain the significance of your main findings – why it is interesting? Are you the first to report this? Is this the largest cohort? Is this a unique cohort?
  • One sentence on limitations of data.
  • Explain the implications – what this means for practice/policy/advocacy for MSF/others.
  • Propose next steps/way forward (avoid 'more research is needed...').

2)Descriptive study abstract/new operational models (max 350 words)

Background: Describe the background situation/context (eg, describe mortality from disease studied in that area/lack of health services/lack of knowledge of how to treat this group/disease). Include a sentence describing your analysis – i.e. a descriptive study of a model of care.

Project: Describe the MSF project – why MSF is there, what the project involves, how long it has been there, how many people treated.

Outcomes/lessons learned: Describe outcome analysis if it exists or describe lessons learned from the project – what worked, what didn't.

Conclusions: The way forward, what these lessons/outcomes mean for the project/other MSF projects, what will happen/did happen next in the project.

3)Qualitative abstract guidelines (max 350 words)

Background

  • Describe the aims and objectives of the research, the importance/relevance of your study, and the suitability of qualitative methods in addressing these aims.
  • Describe the background situation/context of the study.

Methodology and sampling

  • Describemethods (e.g. focus groups, interviews), sampling techniques including how and why participants were selected, tools (e.g. topic guide, analytic framework); and data collection (e.g. questionnaire, audio recording).
  • Describe analysis and validation of data, attention to deviant cases, and reflexivity.

Results

  • State your findings clearly according to main themes.

Conclusions

  • Make sure that your conclusions clearly follow from your data.
  • What are the limitations of your research?
  • Why are the results important?
  • How will the conclusions be used/what recommendations have you made? What are their implications; what does this mean for practice/policy/advocacy for MSF/others? Are they more widely applicable?