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.
Tel:
0151 794 5272