Addressing health inequalities through engagement with people and communities

Summary

Use diverse, inclusive methods to ensure engagement with communities experiencing health inequalities is effective and representative.

Link to health inequalities

A diverse range of methods helps ensure that work with people and communities experiencing health and care inequalities is inclusive, equitable and effective. The ability to draw on different methods helps to involve a wider range of people, address different needs and enhances the reliability of findings.

Activities, skills and resources

Emerging

• Use a single, established methodology to engage people and communities.
• Develop a clear understanding of the scope and limitations of the current methodology.
• Identify areas where additional methods could enhance engagement with under-served communities.
• Begin exploring alternative engagement tools to complement the existing approach.

Developing

• Customise applied methodologies to different community contexts.
• Actively encourage practitioners to try new approaches and share outcomes.
• Document the effectiveness of different methods to build a knowledge base.

Maturing

• Provide comprehensive training in a range of engagement methods.
• Develop processes to systematically select appropriate methods based on specific contexts.
• Create a framework to guide the selection and implementation of methods.

Thriving

• Collaboratively design engagement methods with communities to reflect their unique contexts.
• Ensure methods include clear feedback mechanisms for continuous improvement.
• Regularly adapt methods based on evolving community insights and priorities.