If it were easy to find a good alternative to "hard-to-reach groups", we would probably all be using it - people have been complaining about the phrase for years. (Incidentally, while we're airing our pet grumbles about language, I think it's a but euphemistic to call every group a "community". Undocumented migrants are a group, but it's extremely difficult for them to form a community - that's one of the reasons why their life is so difficult.....)
Saying that some groups are hard to reach is not refuted by the answer "you can reach them if you try hard enough". All it's saying is that reaching them calls for more effort. We can turn things around and call services "hard to access" for some people who want to use them. Those people, too, could probably reach them if they tried harder - but that doesn't mean the services (for them) are not "hard to access".
We seem to regard it as correct always to assume that the service is at fault, never the user. There is a certain logic in this, in that all we are paid to do is to worry about whether services are doing the best they can. We know all about "blaming the victim" and don't want to be caught doing it. Having said that, I don't think it's necessarily disparaging to refer to a group as "hard to reach" - as long as it's not assumed that this absolves the agency from the task of making the necessary efforts. In my experience people who use the phrase "hard-to-reach" are not looking for an alibi for their own laziness. Most of them are trying hard to make special efforts and just want a term that makes it possible to discuss the problem.
Until someone comes up with a better alternative, I think we are stuck with this phrase!
Something that really sets my teeth on edge, on the other hand is talking about "raising people's health literacy" when the speaker just means "persuading someone to trade in their own ideas for mine". But that's another story.....
All the best, David
________________________________
Van: Health of minority ethnic communities in the UK [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Namens Joe Adigwe, Gozie
Verzonden: woensdag 29 januari 2014 21:48
Aan: [log in to unmask]
Onderwerp: Re: Accessing difficult to reach communities
Its funny this 'hard to reach' terminology. They are there, quite obviously. Services/professionals using this term don't regulary see them BUT if they're not using services etc - then its the latter that's hard to reach not the former. Go figure..
--------------------------
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Device
From: Jane Fountain [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, January 29, 2014 08:27 PM
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Accessing difficult to reach communities
How long is it going to be before we stop using the phrase 'difficult/hard to reach/access'???
It's health and social services that are difficult for some members of some populations to access. I don't like researchers using the phrase either, because although it leads to the development of some good methods, I have seen too much self-congratulation when they are successful ('Clever me, I accessed a hard-to reach community').
Just to add that none of the above is meant to denigrate the many excellent services and research projects that there are out there.
Jane
Professor Jane Fountain
Research consultant
Emeritus Professor, University of Central Lancashire
tel: +44 (0)20 8671 6723
________________________________
From: Health of minority ethnic communities in the UK [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Albert Persaud [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 29 January 2014 19:03
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Accessing difficult to reach communities
There is no such people or groups of people as "difficult to reach communities"
at best it characterise people as being -"difficult" "they look after their own" ( there is no problem here) and at worst "demonised" and add to the current political and some media fodder of immigration, UKIP, BNP, etc.
This type of thinking was prevalent in the 70s, 80s, and 90s -then phased out with various policy changes. - sad to see it returned, particularly with reference to people from the Caribbean.
methodology and support may be good but message wrong.
Albert.Persaud
On 29 January 2014 13:14, Sarah Fry <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
Dear Colleague,
I am doing a PhD at Cardiff University about perceptions of prostate cancer risk in African and Caribbean men in South Wales.
I plan to interview men from the African and Caribbean community in Cardiff. I have started to make contact with the community by volunteering for local events and spending time in community centres. I am hoping this means I will not be a strange face when the time comes to recruiting to my study. I am also meeting with third sector organisations to make key contacts.
This seems to be working well. Does anyone have any experience of recruiting to a study using similar strategies and has it worked?
Thank you for your help.
Sarah
Sarah Fry
PhD Researcher / Oncology Research Nurse
School of Health Care Sciences
College of Biomedical and Life Sciences
Cardiff University
7th Floor, EastGate House
35-43 Newport Road
Cardiff
CF24 0AB
Telephone: 02920 917727<tel:02920%20917727>
http://phdays.cf.ac.uk/
Click here<https://www.mailcontrol.com/sr/MZbqvYs5QwJvpeaetUwhCQ==> to report this email as spam.
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