Social learning about COVID-19 vulnerability and social distancing in high density populations: the case of UK urban dwelling Bangladeshis

Aims

Set in the London borough of Tower Hamlets, home to 18% of the UK’s Bangladeshi population and the largest Sylheti community outside Bangladesh[3], this study will identify the nature and potential for social learning about COVID-19 vulnerability and the need for social distancing amongst UK Bangladeshis. Most crucially, we will address the potential exclusion of this vulnerable group of older Bangladeshis within current approaches to communication by identifying ways of boosting the potential for social learning about COVID-19 amongst UK Bangladeshis.

We will pose the following research questions:

• RQ1 What are the prevalent attitudes, beliefs and practices relating to notions of social distancing in response to perceived vulnerabilities and risks of COVID 19 amongst older Bangladeshis and the social contacts they rely on to mediate advice?
• RQ2 How have they accessed and interpreted messages about social distancing? How could additional communication build upon existing attitudes, beliefs and practices, to boost compliance with social distancing protocols and reduce vulnerability?
• RQ3 What is the role of choice of language (speaking Sylheti/English) and linguistic choices (e.g. “spatial distance” or “physical distance”) in mediating notions of social distancing in relation to COVID-19?
• RQ4 What is the potential for social learning about the need for social distance in relation to COVID-19? How could this potential be boosted?

Methods

Phone interviews with older Bangladeshis and their social contacts. We will recruit Bangladeshis over the age of 60 as research participants. The interviews will identify attitudes, beliefs and practices relating to notions of social distancing, as well as information about their access and awareness of central messages, and their linguistic background and multilingual resource. Participants will be asked if they habitually rely on a friend, acquaintance, or family member to mediate information in English and nominate this person for an interview. The interviews with social contacts will focus on the same topics, but from the perspective of the mediator.

Qualitative analysis will be conducted in two phases. We will first perform a thematic analysis to identify relationships between attitudes/beliefs and compliance and practices. To identify the potential of social learning through linguistic and cultural mediation, we will draw comparisons between the two datasets. In order to identify explanations and solutions from within the Bangladeshi sociocultural context in identifying emerging themes, we will draw on the PEN 3 model[4, 5], which is unique amongst theories of health behaviour in its foregrounding of culture as the core determinant. The second analysis will draw upon cognitive semantic theory[6] to identify shared vs differing conceptualisations and their associated language choice and terminology use.

Validation of project findings will be completed using focus groups. A structured vignette[7] will be employed as a validation method. Participants will be invited to focus groups, where we will present and discuss a narrative about a typical UK Bangladeshi community’s experience of COVID-19 based on the emergent analyses – including some deliberately contradictory statements.

Impact

The project examines how Sylheti speaking UK Bangladeshis negotiate advice about social distancing crosslinguistically and crossculturally. At the 3 month stage, we will have insights into prevalent attitudes, beliefs and practices relating to notions of social distancing and whether and how these have been influenced by different types of advice. We will share these emerging findings directly with people and organisations currently supporting and communicating with UK Bangladeshis and seek their advice on the needs and knowledge gaps the study could address.

At the six month stage, as the analysis progresses to include insights into how linguistic choices influe­nce information sharing and understanding, we will share the early findings most relevant to these needs and gaps at a dissemination event for local and national stakeholders. Based on stakeholder feedback, the project team will work up initial guidance. After the project findings have been validated in focus groups, drawing upon key findings and the diverse expertise of the research team, we will develop a short animated film in Sylheti targeting the Bangladeshi community with messaging about social distancing and social learning in relation to COVID-19. As a participant driven output, its structure will provide an accessible knowledge framework and use language familiar and tailored to the linguistic resource of its audience.

At 12 months, we will launch the film and disseminate findings and guidance at an event for stakeholders and disseminate as community engagement through the channels we have identified as appropriate, including those with national reach – e.g. ethnic media.