Stroke services need to take account of cultural/religious issues to be equitable

2006 Conference

People of south Asian origin are more likely to have a stroke and at a younger age than the general population, but a commensurate proportion do not use stroke services, which may indicate barriers to assess. Equitable stroke services need to take account of religious and cultural issues elicited through meaningful service user involvement.

People from South Asian communities were recruited and trained to work as community researchers (CRs). With the project coordinator they moderated focus groups of community representatives. Issues from these meetings informed a framework used by the CRs to interview potential service users, past stroke service users and/or their carers. The CRs translated and verified the interviews and are currently assisting with the transcription analysis. They will also assist in publishing a report that will be used to inform stroke service redesign. The CRs will play an important part in dissemination of the findings both locally and beyond.