Creating Knowledge Partnerships for Equity (CLARITY) is a Health inequalities project. In this blog, researcher Raheela Shaikh writes about the first year of the project, experiences so far and the next steps.
CLARITY was developed in response to the unfair differences in health that we see between different groups of the British population.
Existing research focusing on ethnic inequalities does not account for the complexity of people’s everyday experiences and the systems in which they live. Many of these, especially ethnic minorities (BAME) communities, may not be fully aware of the extent of these disparities. There is also a tendency to overlook the groups of people who face particular hardships and social marginalisation.
Currently, we do not fully understand the reasons behind the unfair differences in health that we see, and these inequalities continue to grow. This project developed from infancy, an idea to change the perception of “hard to reach” communities in public health research.
About the project
The CLARITY project’s first phase was established in January 2023 to create ‘knowledge partnerships’ between university researchers and members of marginalised and minoritised communities, this means a two-way exchange of information, where both sides are actively participating and contributing their thoughts, ideas, and knowledge. Knowledge partnerships facilitate positive changes led by these communities. An important part of the project has involved us extensively engaging with community organisations serving racially minoritised communities. Our team consists of researchers from the University of Sheffield, PHRESH (University of Warwick) and Fuse.
How it started
The first year was spent building partnerships between universities, community organisations, and community members. Our work incorporated a series of workshops and activities focusing on sharing knowledge and building partnerships. We brought together community organisations serving racially minoritised communities in Sheffield, Rotherham, Birmingham, Dudley, and Coventry. These organisations were voluntary, faith, and local informal groups.
As the majority of the team were from racially minoritised communities themselves or were white academics with extensive links with communities already, we started from existing and trusted relationships between community groups and researchers. We explained the CLARITY project and invited them to partner with us. We then moved to developing new relationships with individuals and community groups. We were able to build and strengthen relationships with organisations by getting involved in ongoing activities within their group and becoming part of the community. For instance, this approach fostered a collaborative environment by our researcher who volunteered to facilitate discussions on different health topics on the special occasions organised by community centres.
This work gave us a good understanding of basic differences between ethnic groups and community organisations regarding their culture, country of origin, language, and religious subgroups. We had informal meetings with representatives of the community groups to understand their knowledge and understanding of research and whether they have previous experiences. They were free to chat about their own understanding and ideas whether related to health and health research or not. We were able to understand hurdles faced by communities for research involvement, such as language and cultural barriers. Involving researchers from an ethnic minority helped us to break some of these barriers. Another hurdle is the research location, using familiar meeting places further enhances this comfort level, as participants are already accustomed to these environments and feel more at ease discussing their concerns.
A shift in thinking
The traditional ‘top-down’ approach in academic research usually starts with ‘predetermined’ research topics and/or objectives. In our project, we decided to flip the script on traditional approaches to community engagement by inviting them to partner with us with no pre-conceived research idea. We wanted any activities or research topics to come from the community. For example, I had open-ended discussions where I asked people about their thoughts on health research. It was fascinating to learn how much people were open to discussing this topic and to understand issues relating to their health.
Also, rather than focusing solely on established and formal community organisations like mosques, churches, and community centres, we delved into grassroots community groups that operated outside of formal structures. These informal groups often include people who are labelled as “hard to reach”.
It can be challenging for researchers to connect with these groups unless there is a deep understanding of their dynamics or if the researcher shares a similar background which was the case with this project. Understanding their needs and respecting their religious and cultural boundaries played a pivotal role in building confidence between the community and the researcher and breaking the stereotype “Hard to reach”. For example, we conducted separate workshops for females in UK Islamic Mission, Birmingham considering the religious requirements of all groups involved. Having researchers from similar backgrounds added extra benefits to the project. One of community participant said “I felt more comfortable with the researcher as she was also wearing hijab”. Another participant added, “We felt more confident and less of a burden as researchers were coming to them, they don’t have to travel to new places”.
This helped in bridging the gap between researchers and community members, they felt valued and respected. For example, in the Dudley Bangladeshi Women’s Association workshop, we were able to facilitate sessions in their mother tongue (Urdu, Hindi) help to them understand their emotional and mental wellbeing, as it was easy to express in their own language. Continuous communication with the community partners was also really important.
Even when there were no activities planned, we as researchers also volunteered in their ongoing projects to show that it’s a two-way partnership, we are not only asking them to understand the research community but we as researchers also want to understand their environment in which they work and shared their experiences. Culturally sensitive approaches demonstrate a profound respect for the diverse backgrounds, beliefs, and traditions that characterise each community. In a bid to create a comfortable and inclusive atmosphere, our workshops and meetings were strategically held in the familiar gathering places of these communities. This not only increased response rates but also instilled confidence in participants, who were accustomed to the environment.
Looking ahead
The CLARITY project has redefined the traditional model of involving communities in tackling health inequalities. By establishing knowledge partnerships and embracing a new path in engaging the community in health research, we hope to foster sustainable, long-term relationships. Through these partnerships, we have already identified some issues that are important to the communities, and we will collaboratively develop actions to tackle these issues going forward.
A heartfelt thank you to my CLARITY team members (Abimbola Ayorinde, Stephanie Ejegi-Memeh, and Lois Orton) and last but not least all our community partners for their invaluable time and efforts. We eagerly anticipate a future of continued collaboration.
Dr Raheela Shaikh, Research Fellow, University of Warwick.
