Abstract
Background
Representing all population groups in health and social care research is essential for generating research relevant to decision making in everyday clinical and social healthcare policy and practice. Conducting research that is relevant to all, starts with ensuring equitable representation in research priority selection. This scoping review aimed to identify evidence of published and good practices in health and social care research priority-setting activities, which included people from ethnic minority backgrounds.
Methods
The search was conducted using MEDLINE, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, PsycINFO, and Scopus databases, following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guideline. Studies that reported including ethnic minority community members in health and social care research priority setting from 2010 were considered. The research priority processes were evaluated using a checklist of good practices in research priority settings.
Findings
Forty-seven articles representing 12 countries and various health topics were included. Group discussion was the most common approach for conducting the research priority setting activities. No study addressed all 20 recommended research priority–setting good practice principles. Most studies provided sufficient information about the context of the priority-setting exercise. Examples of good practices included community advisory boards, local approaches to health research, and multi-disciplinary steering groups.
Conclusion
Representation of ethnic minority populations’ involvement in research across different countries and broader health and social care areas is limited. Recommendations to address these challenges are presented and could help inform researchers, funders, and policymakers to understand what health and social care research topics are prioritised by ethnic minority communities.
Representing all population groups in health and social care research is essential for generating research relevant to decision making in everyday clinical and social healthcare policy and practice. Conducting research that is relevant to all, starts with ensuring equitable representation in research priority selection. This scoping review aimed to identify evidence of published and good practices in health and social care research priority-setting activities, which included people from ethnic minority backgrounds.
Methods
The search was conducted using MEDLINE, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, PsycINFO, and Scopus databases, following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guideline. Studies that reported including ethnic minority community members in health and social care research priority setting from 2010 were considered. The research priority processes were evaluated using a checklist of good practices in research priority settings.
Findings
Forty-seven articles representing 12 countries and various health topics were included. Group discussion was the most common approach for conducting the research priority setting activities. No study addressed all 20 recommended research priority–setting good practice principles. Most studies provided sufficient information about the context of the priority-setting exercise. Examples of good practices included community advisory boards, local approaches to health research, and multi-disciplinary steering groups.
Conclusion
Representation of ethnic minority populations’ involvement in research across different countries and broader health and social care areas is limited. Recommendations to address these challenges are presented and could help inform researchers, funders, and policymakers to understand what health and social care research topics are prioritised by ethnic minority communities.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities |
| Early online date | 13 Mar 2025 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 13 Mar 2025 |
Bibliographical note
Copyright © The Author(s) 2025. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation,distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source,provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.Keywords
- Scoping review
- Ethnicity and race
- Ethnic minorities
- Health research
- Research priorities
- Social care