Transcript OUR HEALTH, OUR ACTION

OUR HEALTH,
OUR ACTION
Tandrusti Research Findings
Iram Naz (WEA Project Researcher)
Why we did the research?
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Gather Experiences and Assess needs: To map the health
journeys of 50 BME/non BME individuals in Dudley
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Building Capacity and Sustainability: To develop 25 Community
Health Champions
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Partnership Working: To work with public bodies to reduce health
inequalities
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Sharing and Developing: To evaluate and disseminate the findings
to shape future service provision.
Research Methods
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Qualitative Methodology
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50 In-depth Semi Structured Interviews
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Ethical Consideration
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Constant Comparative Analysis
Stratified Random Sample:
Representing Tandrusti students
25
Ethnic
Background of
Sample
20
15
25
10
20
5
15
0
10
White British
Indian British
Age Groups of
sample
Pakistani British Other/Unknown
5
0
20- 49
50 - 69
70- 89
HEADLINE FINDINGS
Health Attitudes
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Good Health
Absence of Disease
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Being Older
Having Poor Health
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Health Services
Symptom Control
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Tandrusti aims to challenge these Health Attitudes
Health Awareness
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Difference between health knowledge and
health awareness
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Awareness of personal health developing
after diagnosis or threat of disease or illness
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The need for contextualised and appropriate
health information and promotion
Accessing health Information
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Higher Literacy Level = better access to health
information
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Over 65s = poor access to health information
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GP main source and gatekeepers to other services
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90% preferred ‘interactive’ health information to
leaflets, books.
Disparity in perceived and
actual healthiness of diet
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Awareness of healthy eating is quite good
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Importance of healthy eating is understood but not
practiced
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Steady cultural shift and education required to
change life long habits
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Food labels are very rarely followed by all groups
interviewed
Raising motivation and having
positive role models
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Motivation towards exercising with Tandrusti is high
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Motivation towards a healthy lifestyle was low
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Lack of positive role models and support
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Being Healthy= Major changes and a Big Challenge,
Tandrusti aims to motivate learners through a supportive
health education approach
Dispelling subjective interpretations
of recommended physical activity
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How much physical activity should
an average adult aged 18 and over
do in a week?
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Answer: 30 Minutes of moderate physical
activity 5 times a week (DoH and WHO, 2005)
Physical Activity Levels of
Sample
25
20
No. of
people in
sample
15
Men 14 (total)
10
Women 36
(total)
5
0
Ideal
Sufficient
Insufficient
Sedentary
Inappropriate
Understanding of being
physically active
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<25% of people interviewed were doing ideal
or sufficient physical activity
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Poor understanding of exertion and
frequency balance in physical activity
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Physical activity stereotypes need to be
broken
Health Service Use
No. of Tandrusti
Students using
services
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Most used
service in last 3
years
GP
Hospital
Mental
NHS
NHS W
Health
Direct
in C
Diabetes
CHD P
Prgms
Health Service Use
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Awareness of services is quite poor, restricting
access and outcome.
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GP is the most widely used service, satisfaction is
quite high with GP but low with appointment system
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Older South Asian patients have low expectations
from the health services
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‘Veterinary consultations’ if communication is poor
between health services and patient
Cultural Factors and Health
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Modest descriptions of personal health by South
Asian women issue for large surveys like Census
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‘Purdah’ (veiling) a barrier to mainstream physical
activity for Muslim women, Tandrusti provides a
culturally appropriate service for this group. More
younger women coming forward as a result.
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Tandrusti has broken some cultural myths through
mixed gender exercise sessions, swimming classes.
Mental Health
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Physical and mental illness can be intertwined,
easier to talk about physical symptoms
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Poor mental health = Social, emotional dysfunction
so unfavourable to be shared outside family
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Mental health services need to understand
intricacies of cultural norms and their impact on
attitude and behaviour
Tandrusti’s Impact
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Reduced Blood Pressure readings in over 90% of learners
Improved Posture, Stability and Flexibility in learners
Awareness of the impact of exercise on the body
Improved Self Confidence
Emotional support and social networking through grouped
exercise
Motivation to improve health awareness
Challenging cultural norms/stereotypes through mixed
gender classes
Exercise made fun and less chore like has increased
participation
Willingness to participate in further community cohesion
activities
Tandrusti Action Plan based
on findings
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Increasing awareness of recommended Intensity and Frequency of
physical activity
Physical Activity beyond the Tandrusti class
Raising awareness of integrated physical activity (at home/work etc)
Signposting to other health/education services (particularly mental
health)
Learner led physical activity
Setting up Additional Classes/ equipment
Provision and evaluation of relevant health education/promotion
Reinforcement of Key Health Messages through teaching and
learning
Training and implementation of Community Health Volunteers within
Tandrusti.
Community Health Volunteers
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20 Volunteers recruited and trained from various
ethnic backgrounds and age groups
Volunteering activities: Walk leading, Initial
Assessment in classes, recruiting, motivating and
Supporting, Stress Management
Recommendations
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Individuals
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Community fitness services
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Health Policy makers, stakeholders and
Practitioners
Recommendations for
Stakeholders
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1. Increase awareness of ethnic disparities in health care
among the general public, key stakeholders and
healthcare providers.
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2. Use evidence based practice guidelines; enhance
patient provider communication and trust.
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3. Ensure adequate resources are allocated to meet the
needs of patients likely to suffer health inequality and
disadvantage.
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4. Provide appropriate interpretation services where
community need exists
Recommendations..
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5. Ensure health promotion is culturally competent;
consider issues of user background, literacy levels,
accessibility and the translation and appropriateness of
health messages to user lifestyles.
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6. Consider incorporating and developing community
health workers/ volunteers to support and implement
multi-disciplinary treatment and preventative care
programmes.
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7. Implement patient education programmes to increase
patients’ knowledge on how to best access health care
and participate in treatment decisions.
Recommendations…
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8. Integrate cross cultural education into the training of
all current and future health professionals.
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9. Collect data on healthcare access and utilisation by
patients’ ethnicity and socioeconomic status. Report
ethnicity data and monitor the progress towards the
elimination of health care disparities.
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10. Commission research to identify sources of ethnic
inequalities, on barriers to tackling inequalities and to
assess intervention strategies to reduce inequalities.
Thank you