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One of the key components of our Common Health Assets research is longitudinal data collection from individuals attending activities delivered by 15 community-led organisations (CLOs) across England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. In this blog, we share the exciting news that the Common Health Assets research team, with the help of our community partners, have successfully recruited 349 participants for a longitudinal survey! This involves gathering information about CLO participants and measuring changes in mental and physical health, quality of life, and social connectedness. This has been achieved due to the extraordinary commitment of researchers and staff members at our 15 organisations.
The survey was open to individuals who have recently joined the organisation as well as those who have experience of long-term engagement.
Our recruitment criteria states:
We have used various strategies to recruit 90 individuals who meet these criteria across each research site from August 2022- March 2023. See discussions from our researchers below:
In east London, our researcher Emma Clewett has joined numerous sessions ranging from walking, knitting, crafts and gardening; she even performed a few songs at a singing group (fortunately, she didn’t scare anyone off!). This enabled good relationships to be built and our researcher has become a familiar face across the three organisations.
During the summer of 2022, we had a stall at the Aberfeldy Fair in Poplar to spread the word about the survey, our participants were equally as enthusiastic to help out (as you can see from the photos!).
We were welcomed with kindness and learned a great deal about various community activities taking place at the Centre and outreach locations. We were fortunate to recruit many participants through this engagement.
We adopted both a personalised and flexible approach for each survey. Meetings have taken place in coffee shops, community centres, GP surgeries, over the phone, video calls and via online links, depending on access and personal preferences. Interpreters were also available if language was a barrier.
Our researchers have spent considerable time building relationships with participants to ensure they feel comfortable and heard. Participants have suggested the project to friends and family members who are also involved in the CLOs. Participants have also been happy to engage in successive rounds of data collection for the survey, helping to strengthen the rigour of the research even further. Our approach has been to make survey completion as easy as possible so that people want to participate in research, and to maximize retention at 1, 6 and 12 months follow up.
The relationships we have developed with staff members have been of paramount importance due to the ease of participant introductions and invitations to present at sessions. Our partners in CLOs are enthusiastic about the research and keen to support us. For example, community development staff at one of the centres invited our researcher to discuss the project at a different GP surgery each month, which is where their patient volunteer scheme is located.
Staff members from all corners of the organisations have been involved with project referrals, from chief executives, link workers, activity leaders and service leads. They have been integral to the recruitment process as well as for maintaining contact with participants, particularly during more challenging times. And we could not do this research without them.
Common Health Assets researchers in Northern Ireland, Aideen Gildea and Jill Mulholland recruited participants through staff suggestions and word of mouth. Participants were involved in a variety of activities and services, including Men’s Sheds, health education classes, telephone support and gardening groups. Many participants have been involved with the CLO over a long period of time, attending multiple programmes and activities. Our researchers were warmly welcomed to drop-in sessions to discuss the project and recruit new participants (with the lovely offer of soup!). activities.
The social prescribing programme also provided our researchers with the opportunity to recruit participants and share information with individuals recently referred to the organisation by their link worker. The majority of baseline surveys were conducted face to face at the relevant centres.
In Glasgow, Jack Rendall recruited participants via leaflets, word of mouth and social media. Staff members were extremely helpful for accessing participants as our researcher was invited to present at knitting sessions, social prescribing meetings and service groups. Dropping into the café also seemed to be successful! Group environments worked well as participants could share their survey experiences with one another which helped put many at ease. Leaflets and posters were not the most successful methods of survey recruitment, but they were handy to make a note of contact details within large groups (see an example of our recruitment leaflet below). The majority of baseline surveys were conducted face to face as it was more convenient for participants to meet when they attended a CLO activity; only three participants chose the online software.
Our researcher in Bournemouth, Rejoice Chipuriro received fantastic support from project staff at the four community-led organisations. The research team were invited to attend a variety of activities at the CLOs which increased visibility of the research and its team members. Our participatory photography workshops and Lived Experience Panel sessions were used as entry points to survey recruitment as rapport was previously built between researchers and participants.
Individual baseline surveys were conducted at the same time by paper in small group settings as many participants expressed this put them at ease. Groups included: sewing, drama, tea and toast, parent groups and many more! To accommodate individual preferences, the majority of survey baseline interviews were completed face to face either alone on paper or researcher assisted. Although the completion of survey questionnaires was more time-efficient and practical in larger groups, researcher assistance enabled participants to share their stories and respond to the questions in a relaxed manner.
Physical space was a challenge as many activities were conducted at outreach locations rather than a building owned by the organisation. Our researcher adapted to this with ease and created engaging social media posts to recruit participants, they received a flurry of responses within 24 hours! Staff at the community organisations also encouraged social prescribing link workers to support with recruitment, which opened the project up to many more participants.
All our researchers hit a few bumps, here are some of the lessons we learned along the way…
We are now progressing to the 12-month stage of our longitudinal survey! Research involving long term follow up is needed to capture change over time, but it is also difficult to do and drop out is common, as people move on, and busy lives get in the way. In this project we recognise people’s time through payment for each survey or interview completed but, perhaps more importantly, work hard to build relationships between researchers and our research partners.
Thank you to our 15 community-led organisations for your continued support and commitment to the Common Health Assets project.
Watch this space for more updates!
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