Discovering the research priorities of people with diabetes in a multicultural community

The paper by Brown et al¹ is a much needed piece of research in an area that has been neglected by funding bodies in the past.¹ However, despite its patient-centredness, it is still not truly ethnocentric — as far as readers could tell, the ethnicity of the ‘Asian’ focus groups was not clarified. As there are big differences between ‘Asian’ or ‘South Asian’ communities² (usually defined as people originating from the Indian sub-continent), either of which should be defined in a paper, it is currently considered more culturally sensitive to identify groups by their own specified ethinicity.^3,4 It would not alter the word count to use, say, ‘Pakistani’ instead of ‘Asian’ and is far more specific.

For me, this is a lesser issue than that of how we deal with the findings — for the last 25 years, black and minority ethnic communities complain that they are extensively researched, their needs are defined,⁵ but that nothing comes back to improve their situations. The current situation is still one of short-term funding for black and minority ethnic community projects, both research and service provision, with add-on monies to mainstream planning (for example, the Health Inequalities Fund of the Welsh Assembly Government initially offered 3 years' funding, then increased it by 2 more years and finally by 1 more year, but each time towards the end of the previously agreed funding period).⁶ In addition, research and academic institutions continue to have a major interest in molecular biology and laboratory-based research, so it is likely that the disparity between what patients say they want and what research produces, will continue.