14. Dr. Alice Ladur - Using Whose Shoes in PhD work with men in Uganda to improve maternity outcomes

Wild Card - Whose Shoes?

This is a very special podcast for me - a story I was really keen to capture as it deserves a large audience.
Today I am speaking to Dr Alice Ladur, who has used my Whose Shoes board game in her PhD project in Uganda, working with men to bring about culture change and improve maternal and the enable outcomes.
It is a very powerful story and the immediate changes and outcomes are extraordinary. There is so much scope to build on this project and save lives.
I am delighted that Alice won the Vice Chancellor's Postgraduate Research Prize, Bournemouth University. Very well deserved!
Lemon lightbulbs with Alice 🍋 💡🍋

• Alice had the vision to target men in Uganda in order to bring about culture change and improve maternity outcomes
• It is vital to ensure that pregnant/ birthing women have choice, so involvement of the partners had to be on their terms
• Careful research and planning essential in adapting the Whose Shoes approach for a new audience
• It was vital to run the pilot study to ensure that the Whose Shoes game was acceptable and accessible to Ugandan men.
• Make sure the messaging is appropriate and translate into the local language
• Experiencing what it is like as a participant helps in designing and facilitating a Whose Shoes session
• It is useful to record ‘before and after’ impressions, to help evidence the impact of the approach. Quotes are brilliant!
• By building trust, the men talked about their experiences in childbirth and realised the impact of their attitude and behaviour on their spouses. They became more concerned and caring
• Essential to understand the reality of working in a difficult political context; overcoming the political divide through coproduction
• “Maternal death knows no colour divide and has no political affiliation”
• In Uganda, it was in is essential to engage a male facilitator.
• Choosing the right male facilitator added so much- a father himself, who succeeded in breaking down stereotypes and getting the men to share experiences openly and learn from each other
• Humour helps to break down barriers! Complete strangers bonding over a board game!
• Essential to identify and dispel the misconceptions men had about maternity services. Allaying the fears!
• Better nutrition! Increasing the uptake of leafy vegetables and animal products
• Seeing real behavioural change. More understanding, more caring!
• The women felt more supported to attend antenatal care
• The board game – wise, educational and fun!
• This was highly innovative. Board games have not been used in this way in Uganda before.
• Coproduction rather than competition.
• Whose Shoes is creating safe spaces for people to reflect and share experiences and think through individual and community actions
• An article in the BMC about Whose Shoes as an educational board game to engage Ugandan men in pregnancy and childbirth
• We have only really scratched the surface here. Who can help with funding for a longer term study?

Read the early research findings here:

`Whose Shoes?` Can an educational board game engage Ugandan men in pregnancy and childbirth? | BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth | Full Text
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Chapters

1. 14. Dr. Alice Ladur - Using Whose Shoes in PhD work with men in Uganda to improve maternity outcomes (00:00:00)

2. Alice sets the scene talking about the context for her PhD project around improving maternity care in Uganda (00:01:54)

3. Alice talks about how she became specifically interested in male involvement in maternity (00:05:30)

4. Early impact from focusing on men and culture change, including reducing domestic violence (00:06:56)

5. Ensuring women have choice (00:07:30)

6. How the story began – sowing the seeds for using Whose Shoes in Uganda (00:08:27)

7. Alice attends a #MatExp #WhoseShoes workshop at UHCL and starts to plan the pilot study with Uganda men in London. (00:09:39)

8. The early response – they loved the game! (00:11:46)

9. It was interesting to see the men come alive, talking about their experiences in childbirth and realising the impact their attitude had on their spouses (00:12:27)

10. Some immediate outcomes – becoming more concerned and caring (00:13:05)

11. Thinking through the logistics of making this work in Uganda, including adapting the Whose Shoes board game for the new context (00:14:14)

12. Getting ethics approval in Uganda and the political backdrop to the field work in Uganda (00:15:52)

13. Careful planning paid off in terms of making the project appropriate for this rural area of the Uganda – more about how Alice made this work (00:16:31)

14. “Maternal death knows no colour divide and has no political affiliation” (00:16:55)

15. Recruitment to the study (00:17:30)

16. Making participation easy and accessible for the women and their partners (00:19:04)

17. The need to engage a male facilitator - a father himself, who succeeded in breaking down stereotypes and getting the men to share experiences (00:20:00)

18. Opening up and learning from each other (00:21:45)

19. A bit of humour always helps! Complete strangers bonding over a board game! (00:22:43)

20. The women felt more supported to attend antenatal care (00:23:42)

21. Finding out about the misconceptions men had about maternity services. Allaying the fears! (00:24:30)

22. Better nutrition! Increasing the uptake of leafy vegetables and animal products (00:27:00)

23. Seeing real behavioural change. More understanding, more caring! (00:30:11)

24. Appropriate messaging, translated into the local language: Luganda. And other ways of breaking down barriers. (00:30:44)

25. Overcoming politics and learning together. (00:32:07)

26. Some quotes giving the men’s reaction to the board game – wise, educational and fun! (00:32:49)

27. This was highly innovative. Board games have not been used in this way in Uganda before. (00:35:11)

28. Coproduction rather than competition. (00:35:34)

29. Whose Shoes creating safe spaces for people to reflect and share experiences and think through individual and community actions (00:36:21)

30. Writing up this Ugandan study – an article in the BMC about Whose Shoes as an educational board game to engage Ugandan men in pregnancy and childbirth (00:37:31)

31. Next steps – writing up in more detail. Who can fund an extension of this project to build on the impact and potential unearthed here? (00:38:21)

32. Congratulations! Alice won the Vice Chancellor’s Research Prize for her excellent PhD project. (00:40:12)