Asking three questions could make health initiatives more inclusive

Support to improve the health of people from ethnic minorities is most effective when it aligns with their values, research has found.

Southampton researchers recommend three ways policy makers and researchers can boost the uptake of healthy eating and physical activity programmes among ethnic minority communities.

Tackling UK obesity

Around 26% of UK adults are obese, second only to the USA. About two in five do not meet the 150 minutes of recommended physical activity, while only a third of us eat our five-a-day.

These trends are worse for ethnic minorities. Yet people in these communities continue to experience political, social and economic disadvantages. These affect their abilities to eat healthily or be active. These disadvantages may have contributed to many people in these communities not engaging with initiatives that support healthy eating and physical activity.

Southampton researchers aimed to find out if future initiatives can be made relevant. They worked with 41 participants and 51 community partners. Through interviews and community engagement activities, they identified values underlying health behaviours.

The research is published in the journal Discover Public Health.

Three questions

The researchers suggest three questions policy makers and researchers can ask. These can help to make their policies or programmes more relevant to UK ethnic minority communities.

The questions ask if the project or policy:

1. Aligns with the community’s cultural, family, community, social and health values?

2. Supports them to incorporate healthy activities and behaviours into their routines?

3. Accounts for factors such as racism, cost and location?

The researchers also recommend ‘co-production’. This is where people from the target communities work in partnership to develop the policies or programmes. They suggest involving people from the communities at an early phase of policy or programme development.

The hope is that this will mean programmes may be more suited to these communities. This, in turn, will support more people to make the changes they need to live healthier lives.

Olatundun Gafari, a Lecturer in Public Health at the University of Southampton, was the paper’s lead author. She is an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Research Fellow at the NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre.

She said: “People behave in ways that align with their personal values and priorities. This study was therefore important to understand what the values and priorities were for people from different ethnic minority communities, and how physical activity and healthy eating programmes can be developed in a way that align with these values.

“Physical activity and healthy eating behaviours are shaped by many factors. However, when programmes and policies begin to take into consideration the specific needs, contexts and priorities of the intended population, while working with them right from the start, the programmes stand a better chance at being well received and impactful.

“We encourage policy makers and those involved in the development of interventions and programmes to adopt the recommendations shared in this paper.”