How do community-based health interventions, delivered by Caafi Health, mitigate the impact of digital exclusion on the health of people from minority ethnic groups?
What works, for whom, to what extent, and in what contexts?
Funding
BNSSG ICB Research Capability Funding.
What is the research question?
How do people from different minority ethnic groups interact with community-based health interventions to overcome digital exclusion, in what contexts, and why?
What is the problem?
The problem which this project hopes to address is the digital exclusion and its impact on widening health inequalities among minority ethnic communities. Digital exclusion happens when people and communities are unable to benefit from digital technologies, such as the internet. People and groups who are digitally excluded tend to also suffer from health inequalities. Digitally excluded individuals and communities tend to have limited access, skills and motivation to use digital technologies. This leads to reduced engagement with digital health services to manage and improve health, which can result in illnesses and health conditions becoming worse.
What is the aim of the research?
The team want to assess the impact of a community-based health interventions, delivered by a community organisation on reducing digital exclusion and improving health outcomes for people from minority ethnic groups.
How will this be achieved?
The study team will carry out a realist evaluation, which is a theory driven review process, of community-based health interventions run by Caafi Health in partnership with a Primary Care Network. The realist evaluation will consider how and why community-based interventions influence the adoption of digital tools to access healthcare, and how this influences health behaviours and impacts the health outcomes for minority ethnic populations in the BNSSG area.
Who is leading the research?
Dr Ilhem Berrou, Senior Lecturer in Applied Pharmacology.
Further information
For more information or to get involved with this project, please contact bnssg.research@nhs.net