Why we did it
CEH, to fulfil its role as a knowledge leader in the health and community services sectors, must engage with the sector regularly to understand the current issues for primary and allied health clinicians, local government, community support agencies, peak bodies and government that work with people from refugee and migrant backgrounds.
What we did
From late 2022 until early 2023, CEH embarked on an exciting project researching what new approaches agencies are taking, or considering, to improve access to, and quality of, health and human services to migrants and refugees in Victoria.
This research would contribute to informing CEH planning and opportunities for potential collaboration with organisations and the development of resources and training.
How we did it
We interviewed people which then informed our literature search. CEH interviewed 14 key stakeholders from a range of agencies who were expert in their area and were familiar with CEH and its remit. Key terms derived from these interviews were grouped into thematic areas:
- Literacy
- Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
- Models of Health
- Reflective Evaluation and Practice
- Models of Engagement and Design
Each thematic area shared an element of capacity building for consumers, organisations and communities.
CEH, as a recognised leader in Health Literacy, Cultural Competence, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, decided not to explore these areas further.
Models of Health and Reflective Evaluation and Practice, with relatively fewer terms, were determined to be a lower priority for possible exploration at another time.
Models of Engagement and Design encompassed the most terms and merited further investigation. This became the focus area of the literature review.
A literature review search strategy was developed from the focus question “What models of engagement result in high participation of health and human services for a refugee and migrant populations?” From the search criteria 42 articles were reviewed.
What’s next?
The articles will inform CEH’s work around models of community engagement and design.
This work will include
- the development of resources,
- training and
- actively seeking collaboration opportunities from agencies and funding bodies for projects.
CEH is now looking for collaboration opportunities with agencies and funding bodies for projects and resource development, including training on Models of Engagement and Design for refugees and migrants. This includes lived experience, consumer engagement, community engagement, and co-design.
More information
The presentation slides and a summary of the articles reviewed can be viewed on this page.