Exploring self-management and culturally appropriate patient feedback among British Bangladeshis in Manchester

Visual minutes from the workshop capture the main discussion points

by Papreen Nahar and Caroline Sanders

Previous Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) workshops within the DEPEND project have indicated a need to consider Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) groups. On September 21st, 2017,  two public engagement workshops were conducted in Manchester with a BME population – namely British Bangladeshis – to discuss their views and experiences of ‘self-management’ for long-term conditions, as well as the capturing and use of patient feedback and the potential of digital interventions. British Bangladeshis are a significant immigrant population, comprising 13% of foreign-born residents in England. In Manchester, Bangladeshis ranked second among South Asians for persistent inequalities reported, particularly Bangladeshi women. To maintain culturally appropriate language and gender segregation, the workshops were conducted in Bengali, and separately with men and women. Two professional artists were invited to prepare visual reports on the sessions. 

The Bangladesh High Commission, Greater Manchester Bangladeshi Association (GMBA), and Krishnochura (a British Bangladeshi cultural group) were the partners for these workshops. UK-based Bengali TV channels also highlighted the workshops, as these events were the first of their kind.

Following are the highlights from the workshops:

On Self-Management

• Neither men nor women were generally aware of the concept of ‘self-management’, and they did not consider themselves as practicing self-management for chronic conditions.
• Culture-specific lifestyles, food habits, notions about health & wellbeing, and specific gender roles for women were considered the other barriers for self- management.

On Patient Feedback

• Most of the men and women have never been asked to provide feedback by the authority.
• The general fear is that the negative feedback may affect their future treatment at GP centres.
• They felt unstructured questionnaires and a bi-lingual feedback system would be useful.

On Digitalisation

• Remote monitoring using digital tools (e.g. mobile apps) was viewed as a potential way of increasing awareness of self-management as well as providing feedback.
• Digital illiteracy and language barriers were perceived to be obstacles to the use of digital tools in healthcare. However, the joint family structure (which is a common practice among this community) was considered an enabling factor in this regard, as the digitally literate younger generation could help the digitally illiterate older generation.

It was recommended that further research needs to be conducted to develop culturally sensitive co-designed digital tools to improve feedback and self-management.