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Hello Jessie, You might want to put an article in The SAMEC Trust's newsletter; they are an organisation aiming to raise awareness of health issues and conditions that affect minority ethnic communities in the UK, and their newsletter goes out to a large database of BME organisations nationwide. Also, you might want to consider adding photographs to your leaflet, especially if you are leaving them at local centres etc to be picked up. I did some focus groups with the AC community and found that images were the first thing to draw peoples attention to what was relevant to them. Good luck! Sarah ________________________________ From: Health of minority ethnic communities in the UK [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Cooper, Jessie Sent: 05 October 2009 17:34 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: organ donation and ethnicity study Dear Colleagues, I am writing to publicise my research study and also to ask advice about publicising my study to the South Asian and Afro-Caribbean Communities in the North-West of England. I'm a PhD research student in the division of Public Health at Liverpool University doing a qualitative ethnographic study (in-depth interviews and observation) into deceased organ donation amongst Minority Ethnic communities (specifically South Asian/Asian British and Afro-Caribbean/Black British) in the North-West (possibly also spreading into Yorkshire) of England. The study has been set up because there has been much written in policy and research about the 'problem' of the high need for organs for transplant from South Asian and Afro-Caribbean communities in the UK, and the corresponding low donation levels from these communities. However, the issue has been conceptualised in a really narrow way, often by just assessing community attitudes towards organ donation; the implication being that people don't donate simply because of their 'culture'. In this way, culture is misunderstood as a rigid set or rules which people follow, and ethnicity is placed as an inherent barrier to organ donation and healthcare participation. In other words, the process of decision-making in organ donation situations is de-contextualised and the communities are essentially being blamed for the organ shortage. What my study will do is take a more contextual approach and look at the experiences of South Asian and Afro-Caribbean families who have been asked to donate their relative's organs after their death, as well as the health professionals who were involved in these cases. This will be done through retrospective interviewing and observation, in order to understand what goes on between families and health professionals when the request for an organ is made, and how the decision to donate or not is made. The plan is to recruit donor and non-donor families (those who did not consent to donation) from the South Asian and Afro-Caribbean communities, and from these, also recruit the health professionals who were involved with each family. I will be recruiting donor families with the help of transplant coordinators and non-donor families (and additional donor families) by going into the community , e.g. promoting the research in community centres, local newsletters etc. It is the latter which I would like some advice on, and any suggestions as to what organisations might be useful to promote the research through would be gratefully received. So far I have been contacting community centres to post adverts about the research, as well as set up to talk about the study at a few meetings, I've also got a small article which has gone in/will be going in some BME development organisations newsletters. I'm also visiting temples and plan to try and get on some local radio shows as well. As the study is so specific and the numbers of families who have had this experience so small, it is going to be very difficult to recruit participants. Any advice on alternative ways of promoting the study/reaching the communities/names of organisations which might be useful to contact would be greatly received! I have attached a flyer which advertises the study and calls for volunteers to participate (I also have this in other languages). I look forward to hearing from you, Many thanks Jessie Cooper ______________________________________________ Jessie Cooper PhD Student - The University of Liverpool, Room 1.07, The Muspratt Building, Division of Public Health, School of Population, Community and Behavioural Sciences, Brownlow Hill, Liverpool, L69 3GB. Email: [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> Tel: 0151 794 5272