Correlates of attendance at community engagement meetings held in advance of bio-behavioral research studies: A longitudinal, sociocentric social network study in rural Uganda.

Background: Community engagement is central to the conduct of health-related research studies as a way to determine priorities, inform study design and implementation, increase recruitment and retention, build relationships, and ensure that research meets the goals of the community. Community sensitization meetings, a form of community engagement, are often held prior to the initiation of research studies to provide information about upcoming study activities and resolve concerns in consultation with potential participants. This study estimated demographic, health, economic, and social network correlates of attendance at community sensitization meetings held in advance of a whole-population, combined behavioral, and biomedical research study in rural Uganda.

"When you have no water, it means you have no peace": A mixed-methods, whole-population study of water insecurity and depression in rural Uganda.

Background: Lack of access to clean water has well known implications for communicable disease risks, but the broader construct of water insecurity is little studied, and its mental health impacts are even less well understood.

Methods And Findings: We conducted a mixed-methods, whole-population study in rural Uganda to estimate the association between water insecurity and depression symptom severity, and to identify the mechanisms underlying the observed association. The whole-population sample included 1776 adults (response rate, 91.

Water insecurity and gendered risk for depression in rural Uganda: a hotspot analysis.

Background: Water insecurity is linked to depression in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), though it remains unclear how geospatial clustering of water insecurity in rural regions is associated with risk for depression.

Methods: We conducted a population-based survey of a rural parish in southwestern Uganda (N = 1603) to evaluate the joint geospatial clustering of water insecurity and risk for depression among men and women living in rural Uganda.

Results: Geospatial clustering of self-reported water insecurity and depressive symptoms was found to be present among both men and women.