Recruiting and working with service users from underserved or minoritised communities
Ensuring that health and care research reflects the communities it serves is essential to addressing inequalities. However, some groups remain underrepresented in research, and researchers may need additional skills and resources to engage with them effectively.
This project developed training for staff in the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care (NMPC) to support more inclusive engagement with service users from underserved and minoritised communities.
The course was co-ordinated by design researchers Dr Lili Golmohammadi (NMPC) and Dr Emelia Delaney (NMES), with sessions facilitated by Rubi Gubara-Sannie, a race equity specialist with expertise in organisational design, inclusive culture, and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion training and Dr Victoria Betton, a leader in human-centred design and digital health strategy, who brought over 30 years of experience working across the NHS and public sector.
The project received seedcorn funding through NMPC's Inclusive Research & Education Practices (IREP) project, which supports academics to address under-representation and health inequalities in research.
Aims
To equip staff with the knowledge, approaches and practical tools needed to engage meaningfully with service users from underserved and minoritised communities.
Impact
A short training course was developed and delivered to Faculty staff. Among other points, attendees reported:
- An expansion of strategies and tools, and greater confidence in engaging different patient groups.
- Increased confidence to have discussions about racism in research and apply this with their Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement group.
- Sharing learnings with others in their research groups to improve the inclusivity of research plans.
- Approaching subsequent grant applications differently.
Principal Investigators
Research Associate
Research Associate in Engineering