Table 1.

Summary of the key methodological elements of the different studies

	IRC		Save the Children US	Malaria Consortium	UNICEF
Country	South Sudan	Uganda	South Sudan	Uganda	Uganda	Ghana
Geographic location	North Bahr el Ghazal: one sub-county in Aweil East	Karamoja: two sub-counties in Moroto district	Kapoeta North County, Eastern Equatoria	Bukomero, sub-county Kibonga	Kyankwanzi and Mpigi district	Tolon/Kumbungu and Central Gonja district
Year of research	2011	2011	2013	2012	2011	2012
Background characteristics
Literacy level	100% illiterate	66% illiterate	100% illiterate	0% illiterate	0% illiterate	Mainly illiterate
Training iCCM	6 months prior	6 months prior	Part of research	Since 2010	>3 months prior	During 2007–2009
Use of ARI timer	6 months prior	6 months prior	Part of research	Since 2010	>3 months prior	During 2010–2012
Use of beads	Part of research	Part of research	Part of research	Part of research	Part of research	During 2010–2012
Type beads	Age-specific + colour coded	Age-specific + colour coded	Age-specific + colour coded	Age-specific + colour coded	Age-specific + colour coded	Non–age-specific and not colour coded
Quantitative research component
Sample size	32 cases/32 CHWs	33a cases/33 CHWs	69 cases/27 CHWs	282 cases/94 CHWs	Not applicable for this study (NA)
Sample method	Random sampling	Random sampling	All CHWs attending the training	All CHWs included
Assessing the impact	Timer vs timer and beads	Timer vs timer and beads	Timer and beads	Timer vs timer and beads vs mobile application
Type and place of assessment	A mock visit at home of which the CHW was not aware, the children were not necessarily sick children	A mock visit at home of which the CHW was not aware, the children were not necessarily sick children	Selection of sick children at an out-patient department in a hospital	Video case scenarios (2 with fast breathing and one without)
Correct using timer alone	Count within ± 3 breaths of gold standard + knew the cut-off point	Count within ± 3 breaths of gold standard + knew the cut-off point	NA	Count within ± 2 breaths of gold standard
Correct using timer and beads	CHWs finger within ± 3 beads of gold standard	CHWs finger was within ± 3 beads of gold standard	CHWs finger in same classification area as gold standard	Count within ± 2 breaths of gold standard
Qualitative research component
Sample size	32 cases/32 CHWs	33a cases/33 CHWs	NA	94 CHWs	87 CHWs	± 45 CHWs
Sample method	Random sampling	Random sampling		All CHWs included	Purpose sampling + snowball technique	Purpose sampling + snowball technique
Key research focus	Perceptions and potential improvements	Perceptions and potential improvements		Perceptions, user experience and opinions on communication of results	Perceptions and ideas for diagnostic aids	Perceptions, users experience and potential improvements
Method	Interviews	Interviews		Focus group discussions	Focus-groups, in-depth interviews and observations

^a46 were initially selected, but due to time constraints and the evident advantage of counting beads, the team stopped after assessing 33 CHWs.