Collecting and using data about ethnicity in healthcare -a drama

Ireland has a long history of emigration. More recently, we have inward migration. Census 2016 found that 17% of the population were born outside Ireland. This means that there are different minority ethnic groups in our country, in addition the Irish Travellers. The Health Service Executive wants to gather information on the ethnic background of people using the health services so that the HSE can identify if the access to care and outcomes from care is equal across ethnic groups. It is, however, a sensitive issue. Individuals may have had bad experiences in the past because of their ethnicity (for example an asylum seeker from Rwanda) and service providers may feel uncomfortable asking questions about ethnicity if they are not sure what it is and how to talk about it. We - a team of university, community and HSE partners -are researching the collection and use of data about ethnicity in primary care in the mid-West of Ireland (2017-2020). This application is for funding to develop an interactive drama based on the research findings. Drama has been used in this way before and has a real power to convey complex message in a universal language to people from a variety of backgrounds. We will perform the drama three times to reach those who took part in the research and wider audiences too. We will prepare a short film, based on the interactive drama performances, so that we can share findings even further through social media, meetings and education sessions.

Award Date

27 September 2018

Award Value

€27,112.50

Principal Investigator

Professor Anne MacFarlane

Host Institution

University of Limerick

Scheme

Knowledge Exchange and Dissemination Scheme