Adapting, expanding and embedding community and culture into health ecosystems

In our country, there is a difference in health between rich and poor people and areas, with people living in richer areas having better health and living longer, and people living in poorer areas having worse health, becoming disabled at a younger age, and dying younger. This health gap is becoming larger and so we need to look at new ways that might work to tackle it effectively and improve the health of people living in poorer areas.

We know that locally based community organisations are well placed to make a difference to people's health and wellbeing in these areas, which can reduce the overall difference in health between rich and poor. We also know that art-based activities have a good track record of helping to engage the interest of people living in these areas and improve their health and wellbeing.

What we know less about is how these organisations connect to all the other services and organisations that operate in an area, and what are the best ways of doing this, so that (for example) community organisations can identify and get help for people who have health or social care needs, and other organisations can support and work with the community organisations to deliver activities that people want and need, or to access funding to keep them going.

In this research project, we want to analyse the support available in areas of social deprivation or poverty for community organisations (such as community centres) that deliver cultural activities (such as art or education classes) or look after community or natural assets (such as museums, libraries, allotments or community gardens). We want to do this so that system leaders particularly in local government and the NHS and community organisations can better understand the dynamics of the places they manage, make joined up decisions to improve quality of life and create stronger, more resilient places.

Our research aims to highlight ways to support communities through collaborative working that results in fewer people finding themselves in a vulnerable position, and that enables communities to work together more effectively, potentially increasing their capacity to respond to a range of social needs.

Two research teams will work at four community organisations, using a participatory approach, and bringing together people from the organisations to share their knowledge with each other, as part of workshops during the study. The approach to data collection will be agreed with each site, based on their preferences and activities, but will include some or all of:

- Place-based asset mapping - to find out what are the good things about living in this community

- Interviews with people who work in the community organisation, or deliver activities there, or look after community or natural assets. - Interviews, or lunch learning groups with people who take part in the activities.

- Observations and photographs of the activities over time (including observations of local spaces where people come together). - Creative methods such as photographs or storyboards. - Routinely collected monitoring data about activities and who takes part - Meeting minutes, reports etc.

- Research carried out by community researchers (with training and support given by research teams) which can use any preferred method, including short surveys - Interviews with people who work in the wider local system

We will share our findings with the community organisations, people who took part in the research, other researchers and people who work in policy and practice, producing these outputs: (1) Four organisational case study reports (2) "Adapting, Expanding and Embedding Community and Culture into Health Ecosystems" Toolkit

(3) Policy round table (4) Policy and practice recommendations for local authorities, funders, and other local agencies. (5) Research papers to be published in academic journals (6) Presentations at conferences