Increasing ethnic diversity in research into communication in primary care

Our ongoing research aim is to improve clinician-patient communication. Our proposed project aims to identify (1) the barriers and facilitators to research participation in BAME communities, and (2) the factors affecting clinician-patient communication in BAME communities.

We will work with two community groups: the Bristol and Avon Chinese Women’s Group (BACWG) and Bristol Black Carers. These groups are working with us as co-applicants and have identified communication as being important to them in accessing medical care.

Targeting two groups will help identify a range of perspectives and potential challenges. We are aware that there is not a ‘one size fits all’ answer to many of the barriers that will arise.

Our proposed project aims to identify

1) the barriers and facilitators to research participation in BAME communities, and,

2) the factors affecting clinician-patient communication in BAME communities.

Our findings will guide ongoing recruitment in our research projects and be integrated into the communication training that will be key outputs from our SPCR projects.

Outcomes

• Support for the dementia and OPEN projects in recruiting BAME patients.
• Enhancing the communication training both projects are providing for BrisDoc out-of-hours services.
• Creating resources for community groups to increase awareness of involvement inprimary care research.
• A co-produced CAPC blog and journal publication.

Future plans

1. To add a dataset to the SPCR-funded One in a Million primary care consultations archive of recordings and linked data where patients don’t have English as their first language.
2. To co-develop resources for other CAPC projects to increase diversity of both PPI contributors and research participants.