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The NIHR INCLUDE Socioeconomic Disadvantage Framework launched on 24th January via a webinar.

This framework has been designed to aid researchers, who are designing clinical trials, to consider barriers to including patients from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds in their trial.

Socioeconomically disadvantaged refers to people living in less favourable social and economic circumstances than others in the same society. This is more than just low income, it’s the combination of various situations and experiences that can change over time, and describes the impact of a complex multidimensional problem that encompasses the social injustices and inequalities that contribute to further inequalities for people in our society that are already at their most vulnerable.

The framework can also help researchers to develop strategies to attempt to address such barriers in order to improve the design and conduct of clinical research. Although this framework was developed with UK-based clinical trials in mind, aspects may also be relevant to different types of research and research conducted in populations outside of the UK. Whilst this framework focuses on socioeconomic disadvantage, the list of underserved groups in clinical research is extensive and researchers need to be aware of this when identifying barriers to research and developing to strategies to address barriers.

The recording of the webinar, slides and the framework itself are available here.

Your local branch of the NIHR RDS (Research Design Service) is based within the BU Clinical Research Unit (BUCRU)  If  you need help with patient and public involvement (PPI) or any other aspect of your grant application, don’t hesitate to get in touch in the new year.

We advise on all aspects of developing an application and can review application drafts as well as put them to a mock funding panel (run by RDS South West) known as Project Review Committee, which is a fantastic opportunity for researchers to obtain a critical review of a proposed grant application before this is sent to a funding body or if you’re hoping to resubmit the panel can provide some excellent tips and feedback.

Contact us as early as possible to benefit fully from the advice

Feel free to call us on 01202 961939 or send us an email