Patients from multicultural communities are more likely to have medication errors, healthcare-associated infections and complications of care due to communication problems, low health literacy and a multitude of systemic barriers.
Through extensive and meaningful engagement with multicultural communities, clinicians, multilingual field workers and academics, the CanEngage project has co-designed innovative resources to reduce this inequity in cancer care quality among multicultural communities.
Co-design and community engagement results in more equitable cancer care
CanEngage, with cancer service staff and multicultural consumers in NSW and Victoria, has produced a safety-focused medication support tool and an accessible service navigation video. These resources are highly valued by the project’s cancer service partners in South-East and South-West Sydney Local Health Districts to create safer, more equitable cancer care for their multicultural communities.
The success of CanEngage lies in the innovative co-design model used to develop these resources which included the creation of the CanEngage Network. This is a network of over 10 consumers and multilingual fieldworkers who support meaningful contributions from multicultural communities, including those with low or no English language proficiency who are often excluded from research and improvement work.
This novel co-design model has inspired practice internationally, being cited in more than 10 countries and identified as a best practice approach by organisations such as the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health.
The Improving Equitable Outcomes through Cancer Research Award honours a research team who has made an impact in improving cancer outcomes in within one or more of the focus populations in the NSW Cancer Plan.
