An Interactive Global Health Study Builder Tool to Empower Frontline Healthcare Workers in Research Leadership

Background Frontline healthcare workers, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), are often best positioned to identify and address context-specific health challenges through research. However, many lack access to user-friendly tools and support systems that facilitate research initiation and implementation. This paper describes the development, pilot testing, and early outcomes of an interactive online global health study builder tool to support frontline healthcare workers with little or no formal research training in leading pragmatic studies. Methods A multidisciplinary team comprising researchers, nurses, midwives, community health workers, software developers, and communication experts co-designed the tool through an iterative process of consultations and baselining meetings. This tool walks users through six key stages of research: formulating a research question, designing the study, engaging communities, obtaining permissions, managing data, and disseminating results, while providing multilingual, contextually relevant resources. A pilot version of the tool was launched and feedback guided refinement. Results The feedback from 44 pilot users highlighted the tool’s practicality, multilingual accessibility, and intuitive design. Participants reported increased confidence in conducting research and valued the collaborative features. Suggestions led to key improvements, including guide videos, simplified navigation, enhanced visuals, and added guidance tools, strengthening its usability and relevance across LMIC contexts. Conclusion The study builder tool demonstrates the feasibility and value of digital tools in enabling frontline healthcare workers to build sustainable research experience. This open-access solution represents a scalable model for empowering local research leadership and influencing practice and policy in LMIC contexts. Clinical trial number: not applicable