Health Needs Assessment for Underserved Populations Version 1.0

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    Epidemiologic characterisation and health needs assessment of underserved populations for Tuberculosis control in Birmingham and Leicester.

  • IRAS ID

    208942

  • Contact name

    Dominik Zenner

  • Contact email

    Dominik.Zenner@phe.gov.uk

  • Sponsor organisation

    Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    1 years, 5 months, 1 days

  • Research summary

    In England Tuberculosis (TB) is concentrated in large urban centres such as London, Birmingham and Leicester. Some underserved populations in these cities have higher burden of TB and have delayed diagnosis, poor treatment adherence and potentially worse outcomes what may lead to onward transmission and contribute to the TB burden. Although outreach interventions for these groups are encouraged, their cost-effectiveness is setting specific. Therefore, the decision on which intervention is more appropriate for certain group or location should be informed by a local needs assessment.

    This study aims to identify underserved target groups and their socio-demographic and location characteristics in Birmingham and Leicester in order to obtain a baseline profile of their health needs that allows to inform the need of an outreach intervention.

    Through a qualitative and retrospective spatial epidemiological analysis with TB patients aged 16 years-of-age, or over who experienced poor access to health care and their health care service providers the study will addressed the following research questions:

    •Which individual and group level demographic, socioeconomic, and risk-factor characteristics, including but not limited to being homeless, drug user or prisoner can explain poor access to healthcare, measured as diagnostic and treatment delays and poor treatment adherence and completion?

    •Is there a pattern in the geospatial distribution of incident TB cases with poor access to health care in Birmingham and Leicester?

    •What perception do TB patients affected by poor access to health care and their health care service providers have on the health needs in general and of TB in particular of these individuals, and which are the most important determinant factors that contributed to poor access to health care?

    •Do TB patients and their health care service providers think that an outreach intervention would be effective and acceptable and if so how should it be performed?

  • REC name

    London - Central Research Ethics Committee

  • REC reference

    16/LO/2051

  • Date of REC Opinion

    22 Dec 2016

  • REC opinion

    Further Information Favourable Opinion