Evidence suggests that ‘culturally competent’ research staff/practitioners coupled with development and deployment of ‘Community Research Champions’ to demystify research and address mistrust can improve the participation and overall experience of underrepresented communities in health and care research.
To address specific cultural barriers to research participation, our project aimed to:
Improve research staff’s cultural awareness and confidence in engagement and recruitment across diverse ethnic groups.
Facilitate Community-partnered Participatory Research (CPPR) opportunities to recruit, train, and deploy ‘Community Research Champions’ (CRCs) to improve research participation in currently under-served populations.
In collaboration with TS4SE, a Community Interest Company (CIC), the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Research Unit conducted discussion groups that brought together people from across Greater Manchester with ‘lived experienced’ of racial inequalities. Together with research staff (clinical studies officers, research nurses, research practitioners), these discussions helped to co-create bespoke training for both researchers and CRCs.
The Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Research Unit are still in the early stages of implementing evaluating the impact this pilot work. What we learn will inform modifications to enable deployment across more diverse communities and ultimately contribute to co-creating more inclusive research.
Professor Dawn Edge, Professor Mental Health and Inclusivity, University of Manchester