Black British Research Articles

Influence of Ethnicity and Deprivation on Occurrence of Paget’S Disease in Greater Manchester, UK

There is important variation in the occurrence of Paget’s disease in different regions and populations. There are though few data concerning the occurrence of clinically diagnosed disease in black and ethnic minority groups in the United Kingdom (UK). We undertook an anonymised search using an integrated primary and secondary care-based database in Greater Manchester, covering a population of over 3 million people. We looked also among those with a first positive COVID test, the influence of Paget’s disease on subsequent admission to hospital within 28 days. Within our database, there were 534,571 people aged 60 years and over alive on 1 January 2020. The majority were white (84%) with 4.7% identifying as Asian or Asian British, and 1.27% Black or Black British. There were 931 with clinically diagnosed Paget’s disease. Overall prevalence in the greater Manchester area was 0.174%. Prevalence was higher in men than women (0.195 vs 0.155%). Compared to the prevalence of Paget’s in whites (0.179%) the prevalence was lower among those identifying as Asian or Asian British (0.048%) and higher among those identifying as Black or Black British (0.344%). Prevalence increased with increasing deprivation. Clinically diagnosed Paget’s disease is uncommon affecting 0.174% of men and women aged 60 or more years. Within Greater Manchester, it was more common in those identifying as Black or Black British and less common in those identifying as Asian or Asian British.

The Noise My Leaves Make: Black British Women and Surrendering to Belonging

No abstract available.

Investigating inequalities in patient outcomes for first-episode psychosis.

Understanding inequalities in outcomes between demographic groups is a necessary step in addressing them in clinical care. Inequalities in treatment uptake between demographic groups may explain disparities in outcomes in people with first-episode psychosis (FEP). To investigate disparities between broad demographic groups in symptomatic improvement in patients with FEP and their relationship to treatment uptake. We used data from 6813 patients from the 2021-2022 National Clinical Audit of Psychosis data-set. Data were grouped by category type to obtain mean outcomes before adjustment to see whether disparities in outcomes remained after differences in treatment uptake had been accounted for. After matching, the average effect of each demographic variable in terms of outcome change was calculated. Moderator effects on specific treatments were investigated using interaction terms in a regression model. Observational results showed that patients aged 18-24 years were less likely to improve in outcome, unless adjusted for intervention uptake. Patients classified as Black and Black British were less likely to improve in outcome (moderation effect 0.04, 95% CI 0-0.07) after adjusting for treatment take-up and demographic factors. Regression analysis showed the general positive effect of supported employment interventions in improving outcomes (coefficient -0.13, 95% CI -0.07 to -0.18, P < 0.001), and moderator analysis suggested targeting particular groups for interventions. Inequalities in treatment uptake and psychotic symptom outcome of FEP by social and demographic factors require monitoring over time. Our analysis provides a framework for monitoring health inequalities across national clinical audits in the UK.

Emerging Scholars Researching Black British Histories (mid-Eighteenth to mid-Nineteenth Centuries)

Abstract Recent years have seen a vast expansion of scholarly interest in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Black British histories, and increasing calls to support the work of early-career scholars (ECRs) in this field. Yet ECRs continue to face several specific challenges in conducting this crucial research. This section consists of a brief introduction and two case studies based on the research and experiences of Ph.D. students Annabelle Gilmore and Montaz Marché. Gilmore aims to amplify the connections between the lives and labour of enslaved people on plantations in Jamaica and the wealth and art collection of William Thomas Beckford, now held at Charlecote Park, from the mid-eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth centuries. Marché seeks to trace the presence of Black women in eighteenth-century London, drawing on archival documents that provide traces of who these women may have been, and confronting the limitations of the traditional archive. Together, these pieces offer a glimpse into how these ECRs are positioning themselves within the historiography as well as considering how they hope to contribute to the field.

Socioeconomic and demographic patterning of family uptake of a paediatric electronic patient portal innovation.

Patient portals allowing access to electronic health care records and services can inform and empower but may widen existing sociodemographic inequities. We aimed to describe associations between activation of a paediatric patient portal and patient race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status and markers of previous engagement with health care. A retrospective single site cross-sectional study was undertaken to examine patient portal adoption amongst families of children receiving care for chronic or complex disorders within the United Kingdom. Descriptive and multivariable regression analysis was undertaken to describe associations between predictors (Race/Ethnicity, age, socio-economic deprivation status based on family residence, and previous non-attendance to outpatient consultations) and outcome. A sample of 3687 children, representative of the diverse 'real world' patient population, was identified. Of these 37% (1364) were from a White British background, 71% (2631) had English as the primary family spoken language (PSL), 14% (532) lived in areas of high deprivation, and 17% (643) had high (>33%) rates of non-attendance. The families of 73% (2682) had activated the portal. In adjusted analyses, English as a PSL (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.58, 95% confidence interval 1.29-1.95) and multi-morbidity (aOR 1.26, 1.22-1.30) was positively associated with portal activation, whilst families from British Black African backgrounds (aOR 0.68, 0.50-0.93), and those with high rates of non-attendance (aOR 0.48, 0.40-0.58) were less likely to use the portal. Family race/ethnicity and previous low engagement with health care services are potentially key drivers of widening inequity in access to health care following the implementation of patient portals, a digital health innovation intended to inform and empower. Health care providers should be aware that innovative human-driven engagement approaches, targeted towards previously underserved communities, are needed to ensure equitable access to high quality patient-centred care.

The Organisation of Women of Asian and African Descent, Prostitution and Pornography: The British Black Women’s Movement and Sex Work, 1970s-1980s

In recent years there have been some noteworthy attempts to remedy scholarly silences on the Black women’s movement. The issue of sex work, however, is only mentioned in passing despite the so-called ‘sex wars’ preoccupying the white feminist scene at this time. Grappling with the methodological issue of silence on multiple interconnected levels, this this article attempts to fill this gap by interrogating how, and indeed whether, activists in the Organisation of Women of Asian and African Descent (OWAAD) approached issues of sex work. It asks why these activists rejected the interpretation of sex work as work taken by their contemporaries in the sex workers’ rights movement. It firstly proposes that Black woman activists made a conscious decision to remain silent on issues of commercial sex, dismissing prostitution, alongside other issues of sexuality, as the ‘luxury’ preserve of white middle-class feminists that were distinct from, rather than integral to, Black women’s ‘survival’. Piecing together activists’ increasing but piecemeal discussions of pornography from the early-mid 1980s, the second section of this article demonstrates how activists analysed pornography and prostitution as part of a historical tradition of the sexual exploitation of Black women. In doing so, it proposes that their approach to commercial sex was fraught with contradiction – they viewed prostitution, an issue with real-life implications, in symbolic terms. Overall, it argues that Black woman activists to turned a blind eye to the tangible implications of prostitution legislation for Black women as they navigated tensions and challenges around post-war British racism, respectability politics and the gendered legacy of colonialism. Together with work on the experiences of lesbian women, it raises questions about which women were welcome in the movement, reminding us of the need to push scholarship on Black women’s history beyond the act of recovery.

Eliminating persistent racism from the workplace

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to share learning about practical steps that can be taken to eliminate persistent racism from the workplace, including racism by people who have cognitive impairments who do not understand the impact of their behaviours.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is informed by qualitative research. An independent researcher was commissioned to recruit 45 black British, black African and black Caribbean women living in Norfolk and working for a range of employers. Parameters were agreed in advance (aims, consent, data protection). A list of questions was provided to the researcher. The questions covered experiences of prejudice and discrimination. Data collection included face to face/online/telephone interviews, focus groups and questionnaires. The researcher recorded the women’s views and compiled them in a findings report. The report was shared with the women to confirm that their views had been recorded accurately. The author has also convened conversations with over 100 professionals representing providers of public services, including social and domiciliary care.FindingsThe author identified that it will be impossible for employers to eliminate persistent racism from their workplaces until all managers consistently and diligently address every report of racism effectively, in line with the steps set out in this paper. The purpose is to establish, over time, a workplace culture where racism is never tolerated or allowed to persist, and workers and managers learn – and become more confident – to recognise, address and eliminate racism at work. Until this is embedded, racism affecting workers will continue to go unchecked and unacknowledged in the workplace.Research limitations/implicationsThe data gathered to inform this paper (specifically the research commissioned and described in this abstract, in addition to other data, such as conversations convened with professionals) is qualitative data. It cannot be assumed that the experiences of the people interviewed reflect the experiences of all people. However, the voices of participants have highlighted issues to inform future planning.Practical implicationsThe author must be clear that, so far there has been no definitive solution to persistent racism in the workplace. The learning so far is being shared with the hope that this assists others with developing strategies to eliminate persistent racism.Social implicationsWorkplaces across the UK are committed to eradicating racism. However, the rate of change is glacial. This research paper shares learning about how to address this, to increase the pace of change, to begin to genuinely eliminate persistent racism from the workplace.Originality/valueTo the author’s knowledge, the learning from this research is original and not replicated elsewhere.

Exposure to Air Pollution, Genetic Susceptibility, and Psoriasis Risk in the UK

Psoriasis is a common autoinflammatory disease influenced by complex interactions between environmental and genetic factors. The influence of long-term air pollution exposure on psoriasis remains underexplored. To examine the association between long-term exposure to air pollution and psoriasis and the interaction between air pollution and genetic susceptibility for incident psoriasis. This prospective cohort study used data from the UK Biobank. The analysis sample included individuals who were psoriasis free at baseline and had available data on air pollution exposure. Genetic analyses were restricted to White participants. Data were analyzed between November 1 and December 10, 2023. Exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), fine particulate matter with a diameter less than 2.5 µm (PM2.5), and particulate matter with a diameter less than 10 µm (PM10) and genetic susceptibility for psoriasis. To ascertain the association of long-term exposure to NO2, NOx, PM2.5, and PM10 with the risk of psoriasis, a Cox proportional hazards model with time-varying air pollution exposure was used. Cox models were also used to explore the potential interplay between air pollutant exposure and genetic susceptibility for the risk of psoriasis incidence. A total of 474 055 individuals were included, with a mean (SD) age of 56.54 (8.09) years and 257 686 (54.36%) female participants. There were 9186 participants (1.94%) identified as Asian or Asian British, 7542 (1.59%) as Black or Black British, and 446 637 (94.22%) as White European. During a median (IQR) follow-up of 11.91 (11.21-12.59) years, 4031 incident psoriasis events were recorded. There was a positive association between the risk of psoriasis and air pollutant exposure. For every IQR increase in PM2.5, PM10, NO2, and NOx, the hazard ratios (HRs) were 1.41 (95% CI, 1.35-1.46), 1.47 (95% CI, 1.41-1.52), 1.28 (95% CI, 1.23-1.33), and 1.19 (95% CI, 1.14-1.24), respectively. When comparing individuals in the lowest exposure quartile (Q1) with those in the highest exposure quartile (Q4), the multivariate-adjusted HRs were 2.01 (95% CI, 1.83-2.20) for PM2.5, 2.21 (95% CI, 2.02-2.43) for PM10, 1.64 (95% CI, 1.49-1.80) for NO2, and 1.34 (95% CI, 1.22-1.47) for NOx. Moreover, significant interactions between air pollution and genetic predisposition for incident psoriasis were observed. In the subset of 446 637 White individuals, the findings indicated a substantial risk of psoriasis development in participants exposed to the highest quartile of air pollution levels concomitant with high genetic risk compared with those in the lowest quartile of air pollution levels with low genetic risk (PM2.5: HR, 4.11; 95% CI, 3.46-4.90; PM10: HR, 4.29; 95% CI, 3.61-5.08; NO2: HR, 2.95; 95% CI, 2.49-3.50; NOx: HR, 2.44; 95% CI, 2.08-2.87). In this prospective cohort study of the association between air pollution and psoriasis, long-term exposure to air pollution was associated with increased psoriasis risk. There was an interaction between air pollution and genetic susceptibility on psoriasis risk.

#2818 Clinical outcomes of a pre-dialysis cohort in a tertiary renal centre in the United Kingdom

Abstract Background and Aims Patients with advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD) require significant resources in order to manage the complications of CKD, and provide education and planning for renal replacement therapy (RRT). To better gauge the clinical trajectory of these patients, we aimed to provide a descriptive overview of patients who attended the multidisciplinary Advanced Kidney Care Service (AKCS) clinic over 8 years in a tertiary renal referral centre in the United Kingdom. Patients are typically referred to this clinic once their estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) drops below 20 ml/min/1.73 m2. Method This was a retrospective study of consecutive patients who first attended the AKCS clinic in our centre between September 2011 and September 2018, and last follow-up was the end of September 2023. Patients with a prior renal transplant, those with acute kidney injury with subsequent recovery of renal function, and those lost to follow-up were excluded. Patient details and outcomes were extracted from the hospital Electronic Patient Record including demographics, decisions regarding active or conservative management, timing of RRT initiation, first modality of RRT, transplantation, and mortality. The primary outcomes of interest included time to RRT, first modality of RRT, and death. Results A total of 1 957 patients were included. Of these 1,136 (58%) were male and 821 (42%) female. Median age was 69 years at the time of first AKCS review. A large proportion (80%) identified as white British, 13% as Asian or Asian British, 2% as Black or Black British, and the remaining as other ethnicities. Median eGFR was 16 ml/min/1.73 m2 (IQR 4-25 ml/min/1.73 m2) at first AKCS clinic. A total of 1 087 patients (56%) initiated RRT during follow-up. The first modality was haemodialysis in 622 (57%), peritoneal dialysis in 298 (27%), and a renal transplant in 167 patients (15%). Median time to RRT commencement was 12.2 months (IQR 6.4-30). A further 240 patients received a transplant after dialysis. Of the 870 patients who did not initiate RRT, 350 (40%) were documented as opting for conservative management. 756 (38.6%) patients died either before RRT initiation (434) or on the conservative care pathway (322). A further 583 (29.8%) who commenced RRT died during follow up. Median time to death from first AKCS review was 38.5 months in the active management group (21.8 months in those who died without RRT and 51.0 months in those on RRT) compared to a median of 29.7 months in the conservative group. Conclusion This study presents a descriptive analysis of long-term outcomes in a high-risk group of patients. Two-thirds of patients died within 5 years of their first AKCS review, demonstrating the high mortality burden in this population. Of those who died prior to RRT, 57.4% had opted for RRT or were undecided, highlighting the substantial competing risk of death prior to reaching end stage kidney disease. We are planning further work with this dataset including risk prediction modelling. The ability to risk-stratify and profile patients, including consideration of co-morbidities and clinical frailty score, would be beneficial for patients and healthcare providers when making decisions regarding RRT and conservative care.

Nicola Abram. Black British Women’s Theatre: Intersectionality, Archives, Aesthetics. Palgrave Macmillan, 2020, xiii + 224 pp., $109.99 (hardback), $109.99 (softcover), $84.99 (ebook).

Nicola Abram. <i>Black British Women’s Theatre: Intersectionality, Archives, Aesthetics</i>. Palgrave Macmillan, 2020, xiii + 224 pp., $109.99 (hardback), $109.99 (softcover), $84.99 (ebook).

‘A deadly weapon aimed at our hearts’: the scope and composition of Lord Scarman’s 1981 public inquiry

ABSTRACT State-led inquiries have been prominently positioned within British political and social cultures, seemingly popular with its citizens. They are often tactically utilized to depoliticize issues and provide the appearance that ministers share public concern, arguably acting as a political device to maintain the state through apparent declarations of unfailing commitment to ‘accountability’ and ‘legitimacy’. Lord Scarman’s 1981 inquiry into anti-police uprisings, portrayed by the State as violence belonging in ‘less-civilised countries’, provoked opposition to its unrepresentative membership and narrow focus. Some local groups, such as the Brixton Defence Campaign, viewed Scarman’s inquiry as the state’s attempt to legitimize characterizations of the ‘riots’ as ‘blameless forces of law and order [battling] black criminals’. Characterizations of the uprisings as simply ‘irrational’ criminality attempted to remove legitimacy from actions by politically marginalized Black Britons, previously denied access to processes more widely defined to be ‘legitimate’. Throughout, this article highlights the colonial legacies of inquiries, through their aims, operation, and membership. Scarman also refused to investigate accusations of police misconduct, which depict a different situation than accepted narratives, demonstrating the state’s influence on knowledge production and suggesting the potential for such records to reveal violence conducted in the name of the state. By marginalizing certain voices and limiting the inquiry’s scope, the uprisings were characterized as simply a ‘crisis’ of law and order. This aspect of discussion adds to recent debates on the use of the concepts of ‘’militarisation’ and ‘martial politics’, demonstrating practices that reproduce violence in the name of liberal governance.

Two London fires and a critique of grievability: Mournful protest, the Black elegy, and Jay Bernard’s Surge (2019)

ABSTRACT Although as a response to the New Cross and Grenfell Tower fires Jay Bernard’s collection Surge (2019) engages with the themes of loss and mourning, no critical attempt has been made to approach this complex sequence of poems from the perspective of the poetic elegy. This paper argues that reading Surge as a neo-elegy sheds light on Bernard’s intervention in current discourses on the grievability of Black lives in order to carry out their work of mournful protest. I intend to show the ways in which Surge endorses and enhances the ethico-political purpose and innovative expansiveness – regarding time, voice, and place – that characterize the contemporary Black elegy to address the past and ongoing struggles of the Black British community. Even if rooted in British postcolonial history, Bernard’s project in Surge resonates with the concerns of the Black Lives Matter global movement and the body of Black elegiac poetry developing around it.

Lubaina Himid

Dr Omar Kholeif maps out the life and practice of the path-breaking British-artist, Lubaina Himid RA CBE (born, Zanzibar 1954) through a considered engagement of her multivalent creative output—in visual art, writing, and exhibition-making. A leading figure in the British Black Arts Movement, Himid is renowned for her narrative paintings, which interrogate historical representations of Black people’s creativity—from the eighteenth century to the present day. Painted canvasses, cut-out figures, drawers, and found carts find home in exhibitions that reveal the artist’s engagement with opera, performance, and architecture. Kholeif notes that Himid’s expressions have heralded a distinct re-formulation of Black visuality, achieved through a re-imagining of Black life—framed through the lens of the present. In “Do You Want an Easy Life?” Kholeif pays special attention to the artist’s collaborative art making and argues that through these forays that Himid is concerned with “making space” for what official record and history often elides. Kholeif argues that Himid’s artistic realm is constructed through a form of “female worlding” that presages an intertextual palette for art and its history—one which demands crucial revision.

Immigration and the Brexit Catastrophe: Empire, Citizenship and Ignorance

AbstractThe article examines British immigration policy in the run‐up to and after Brexit. It explains how the Conservatives presided over policies that demonised, demeaned and deported black Britons whilst admitting hundreds of thousands of immigrants they promised to keep out. This happened because of (a) how early postwar nationality policy interacted with subsequent immigration policy and (b) elite ignorance. The ensuing Windrush scandal resulted from the interaction of the British Nationality Act 1948 with Home Secretary Theresa May's hostile environment policy. Meanwhile, since Brexit, net immigration figures have doubled. This is because Conservative Home Secretary Priti Patel ended the free movement of EU citizens and authored a new immigration policy that utterly failed to consider the British economy's dependence on low‐skilled labour. The outcomes reflect profoundly on the British economy, on the history of nationality law, and on immigration policy.

Make It Funky for Me: Black British Women’s Explorations of Britishness, Womanhood, and Artistry Through 2000s Music

ABSTRACT 2000s Britain was an interesting and expansive time musically for Black Britain (Bradley 2013), as underground music gained traction in mainstream spaces. This article examines the context in which Black British women were able to cross over into the British mainstream and explores how U.K. garage and U.K. funky artists expressed their creativity, autonomy, womanhood, Blackness, and Britishness. Female U.K. garage artists set a precedent in the creation of “new” diverse identities for Black British women artists, but artists in both underground and mainstream music scenes were also forced to contend with restrictive and harmful misogynoir.

“Real queens fix each other’s crowns”: The interiorities of Black (British) girlhood in Rocks (2019)

ABSTRACT This article explores and analyses the production and representation of Black (British) girlhoods in Sarah Gavron’s film Rocks (2019), and the effects this has had on Black women and girl actors, film-makers, and audiences. Adopting a critical Black (British) girlhood framework that is rooted in Black feminist theory, it explores how Black girls’ interior worldbuilding in British screen media and beyond can be a source of empowerment and affective memory work for these groups. Centring the voices of Black girls and women, this article locates the interiorities of Black (British) girlhood within practices of resistance and self-definition, the formation and maintenance of girls’ intimate friendships, and their intergenerational solidarities. Methodologically, it analyses the film’s narrative alongside interviews from the actors and creatives, Black women’s written memories of their girlhoods, and essays from young Black girls living in Britain to reveal how Black (British) girlhood is relational, embodied, and emotionally affective.

The after rights of the Citizen of the UK and its Colonies: who is the subject of the rights of the citizen in Britain’s hostile environment?

ABSTRACT Radical democrats highlight the emancipatory potential of citizenship rights insofar as they enable the enactment of political subjectivity by those who lay claim to them. However, the conjuncture(s) within which citizenship rights originate (and are rearticulated) matters for the kind of political subjectivity they afford. This article traces the articulation of citizenship rights in Britain in relation to three historical conjunctures: 1948 (in which the introduction of the status of Citizen of the UK and its Colonies (CUKC) coincided with imperial decline); 1981 (in which the status of CUKC was displaced by that of British Citizen as Britain reinvented itself as a nation-state) and; 2012 (in which the hostile environment for irregular migrants was instituted amidst sustained austerity for its citizens). This conjunctural analysis enables us to recognise the good character requirement (that underpins the deportation of Black Britons to former colonies) and the Right to Rent (that deputises immigration control to landlords) as after rights of the CUKC, that is, rights depleted of their political significance as belonging to a free and equal member of the polity. This, I argue, significantly limits any emancipatory potential that enacting citizenship rights in Britain might otherwise enable.

Black cultural intermediaries: Difference, neoliberalism and the negotiation of Black cultural value

In recent years, the UK screen industries have exhibited a renewed interest in racial difference that can be understood as the outcome of policy interventions into the unequal labour practices within film production and film culture. This has emerged with new modes of Black cultural visibility that have accompanied the increased presence of mainstream, publicly funded feature films. Here, the increasing body of Black filmic practitioners who have now occupied the creative status of writer-director is an outcome of not just the expanded and strategic racial equality agenda within the UK film industry, nor the intrinsic need to extend the representation of Black identities and related themes and characterisations within the screen industrial landscape. In identifying a conjunctural shift in Black cultural politics and the production of Blackness as a cultural value through film as a linear social and political phenomenon that has produced a heightened moment of cultural visibility, this article identifies how the presence of industrial actors as creative practice within Black film production and presentation has inaugurated a glacial but no less significant period of industrial reconfiguration and subsequently, new forms of cultural meaning being ascribed to the cultural image of the Black writer-director. As Black Britishness comes into a greater industrial visibility in the film sector, its entanglements with neoliberalist logics of the marketed individual frame the Black cultural intermediary as the inevitable outcome of Black cultural identity’s continued trajectory into the popular.

The importance of need-altruism and kin-altruism to blood donor behaviour for black and white people.

Need-altruism (a preference to help people in need) and kin-altruism (a preference to help kin over non-kin) underlie two hypotheses for voluntary blood donation: (i) Need-altruism underlies motivations for volunteer blood donation and (ii) Black people express a stronger preference for kin-altruism, which is a potential barrier to donation. This paper tests these hypotheses and explores how need- and kin-altruism are associated with wider altruistic motivations, barriers, and strategies to encourage donation. We assessed need- and kin-altruism, other mechanisms-of-altruism (e.g., reluctant-altruism), barriers, strategies to encourage donation, donor status, and willingness-to-donate across four groups based on ethnicity (Black; White), nationality (British; Nigerian), and country-of-residence: (i) Black-British people (n = 395), and Black-Nigerian people (ii) in the UK (n = 97) or (iii) across the rest of the world (n = 101), and (v) White-British people in the UK (n = 452). We also sampled a Black-Nigerian Expert group (n = 60). Need-altruism was higher in donors and associated with willingness-to-donate in non-donors. Levels of kin-altruism did not differ between Black and White people, but need-altruism was lower in Black-British people. Kin-altruism was associated with a preference for incentives, and need-altruism with a preference for recognition (e.g., a thank you) as well as an increased willingness-to-donate for Black non-donors. Need-altruism underlies a blood-donor-cooperative-phenotype. Need-altruism is central to blood donation, in particular recruitment. Lower need-altruism may be a specific barrier for Black-British people. Kin-altruism is important for Black non-donors. The blood donor cooperative phenotype deserves further consideration. Implications for blood services are discussed.

Exploring the perspectives of underrepresented voices: Perceptions and experiences of uterine cancer for black African, Caribbean, black British, and mixed-black women in the UK to develop strategies for early symptom presentation

ObjectivesThe uterine cancer (UC) mortality rate in the UK is significantly higher for women who belong to a Black ethnic group compared to those from other ethnic groups. This study aimed to understand the views and experiences of UC amongst Black ethnic minority women in the UK, with a focus on awareness and presentation of red-flag symptoms. MethodsWomen of Black African, Caribbean, Black British and Mixed-Black ethnicity were purposefully recruited to participate in focus groups and individual semi-structured interviews. ResultsTwenty women from different regions in England participated in the study. Reflexive thematic analysis of the data led to the identification of three main themes: 1) Healthcare inequities; 2) Support and sense making with other Black women; and 3) Knowledge dissemination, mobilisation, and empowerment. Perceptions of inequitable healthcare provision and distrust influenced how participants, and their peer networks, approached seeking assistance from healthcare professionals. Concerns were also raised about culturally insensitive information resources, including issues of language, literacy, and representation, all of which served as potential barriers for women within Black ethnic minority groups. ConclusionsThe deficiency of targeted knowledge mobilisation and specific UC information aimed at Black ethnicity women living in the UK, reportedly contributes to the dissemination of misconceptions and an atmosphere of apprehension around a UC diagnosis. The insights from this study highlight the significance of designing culturally sensitive strategies to promote informed decision-making and empower the dissemination of accurate health knowledge amongst Black women.