Addressing ethnic inequalities in healthcare experiences and outcomes: What has evidence got to do with it?
| Dates: | 24 January 2017 |
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| Times: | 13:00 - 14:00 |
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| What is it: | Seminar |
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| Organiser: | Faculty of Humanities |
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| Who is it for: | University staff, Adults, Alumni, Current University students, General public |
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| Speaker: | Professor Sarah Salway |
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Join us for this event, which is part of the CoDE Seminar Series.
The expectation that healthcare policy and practice should be informed by the best available research evidence in order to enhance quality and efficiency is now well established across most health systems. Among the various economic and demographic factors motivating "evidence-based health system transformation", increasing ethno-cultural diversity of the population stands out as a particular challenge in the UK and elsewhere. Persistent ethnic inequalities in healthcare experiences and outcomes, as well as concerns regarding inappropriate and inefficient use of resources, have prompted a significant growth in research into ethnicity, health and healthcare in recent years. However, while the volume of such research expands, the impact on policy and practice is less readily apparent. At the same time, there are pockets of service innovation that arise without any obvious link to formal research. This situation raises the troubling question: What is the role of research evidence? And, by implication: What is the role of researchers?
The disappointing impact of research on the ground is not peculiar to the field of ethnic diversity and inequality. Indeed, this so-called "second gap in translation" is widely recognised and has resulted in a growing industry of knowledge translation and implementation research. However, to-date this activity has not often focused on ethno-cultural diversity and inequality. Drawing on ideas from the knowledge translation literature and personal reflections on research practice, this seminar will highlight some core ambiguities and contradictions in how we understand, generate and mobilise research evidence in this area. In particular, the presentation will consider: the rhetoric and reality of ethnic equality as a driver within UK health policy; the incongruity of instrumental, linear models of evidence application within the messy, emotional and value-laden world of healthcare decision-making; and the way in which dominant notions of research rigour limit our ability to deal with contingency and context and silence other ways of knowing. The presentation will also identify some missed opportunities and promising developments, including examples of influential evidence mobilisation and sustained co-production partnerships. It will thereby invite discussion around how we can establish new ways of researching that can have greater impact on positive healthcare transformation for multi-ethnic populations.
Speaker
Professor Sarah Salway
Organisation: The University of Sheffield
Travel and Contact Information
Find event
Room 2.07
Humanities Bridgeford Street
Manchester
