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FOCUS GROUPS WITH MINORITY ETHNIC COMMUNITIES
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In February 2000 the Scottish Executive committed itself to major new research aimed at providing better information on the circumstances and needs of people from minority ethnic communities. Blake Stevenson Ltd were commissioned by the Executive to undertake a research study to contribute to this on-going programme of research. The study aimed at exploring the specific information needs of members of minority ethnic communities for a proposed new survey and associated research programme. It was informed by previous work which included an Audit of Research on Minority Ethnic Issues in Scotland from a 'Race' Perspective (Netto et Al) and a Scoping Study for a National Survey of Scotland's Minority Ethnic Populations (System 3).
The specific objectives of the research were to identify:
- Important issues of relevance to the day to day needs and circumstances of minority ethnic communities particularly in relation to Scottish public policy and service provision;
- Potential survey topics which would illuminate barriers faced by and opportunities presented to members of minority ethnic communities;
- Potential survey topics which would illuminate disadvantage and discrimination faced by members of minority ethnic communities;
- Potential survey topics which would reflect attitudes and expectations and aspirations of members of minority ethnic communities;
- The relative priorities of the topics identified for any future survey;
- Implications of the findings for the design and conduct of the survey;
- Implications of the findings for the associated research programme.
Approach and Methodology
To undertake the research with people from minority ethnic groups, Blake Stevenson consultants used the following methodology:
- Desk based research to set the research within its strategic, policy and legal context;
- Identification and recruitment of research participants from four areas of Scotland (Edinburgh, Fife, Glasgow and Grampian);
- Identification and recruitment of assistant facilitators
- Development of participant monitoring forms to collate quantitative data on participants;
- 29 focus groups with members of minority ethnic communities;
- Transcription and analysis of focus groups.
Findings
The study findings focus on the characteristics of the participants, the priority issues for minority ethnic communities in Scotland, and the proposed new survey and related research programme.
Participants
A total of 196 people from minority ethnic communities participated in the research across 29 focus groups representing an average of 7 participants per focus group. A wide range of minority ethnic groups in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Fife, and Grampian were represented in the research, with the highest representation from Pakistani, Indian and Chinese groups.
Priority Issues and Suggested Solutions
Focus group participants identified the following priority issues:
Health
Access to healthcare may be restricted by language barriers and the lack of appropriate interpreter services. Patients may have difficulty arranging an appointment, explaining what is wrong or the help that is required. Using an interpreter can require additional time and this may put pressure on all three parties. Health services can also be culturally inappropriate, for example in relation to diet.
- Translation and Interpretation Services
People were often unclear about the availability of interpreting services and how to access this resource. There appears to be widespread use of informal interpreters. This was frequently inappropriate, particularly in the case of young relatives and the use of untrained interpreters or interpreters who are not trained to translate medical information, raises important questions about the accuracy of the information provided.
Many participants felt that they needed some kind of advocacy and support service to help them articulate their views.
Although most participants were positive about the services provided by health workers, people felt that the language barriers could result in them receiving inadequate information or being "fobbed off" and not gaining access to the same quality of services as others.
Employment and Business Support
- Accessing Employment and Promotion
Accessing employment and promotion is limited by discrimination and racism in the labour market. This results in high levels of self-employment amongst minority ethnic groups and also to a range of other problems such as loss of confidence, stress and social isolation. Some people respond by gaining further qualifications and then find themselves regarded as 'over-qualified' for some areas of work. Qualifications and experience gained in other countries is frequently undervalued by employers and references from overseas not taken up.
- Business Support Services
Business support services often do not meet the needs of many minority ethnic traders and many experienced difficulties in accessing finance.
Education and Lifelong learning
The education system does not reflect the ethnic diversity of Scotland. It is biased towards Christian and Western traditions and fails to recognise the value of the culture of children from minority ethnic communities. It fails to meet specific cultural needs of some communities, for example for single sex schooling. Educational content and structure does not meet the needs, aspirations and lifestyle of Gypsy/Traveller children.
- Discrimination and Bullying
A small number of participants highlighted the problem of racially motivated discrimination and bullying in schools, although few elaborated, reflecting the sensitivity of this issue. All participants indicated that their children were discriminated against at school in terms of name calling and generally being treated as "different".
The learning of English was considered crucial by all groups. Although a wide variety of learning opportunities were perceived to be available, language barriers excluded many from such opportunities. Some participants also commented on the lack of learning materials and resources in languages other than English. There were mixed views over the provision of learning targeted at minority ethnic communities. Some groups, especially women and older people displayed a preference for minority ethnic specific courses whilst younger people tended to favour mainstream services.
There was a general theme throughout many of the discussions concerning the need to educate the majority population, particularly those involved in providing health, education and employment services, about minority ethnic communities, their cultures, traditions and religions.
Justice and the Law
- Racially Incidents and Police Responses
Racially motivated crime affects many people. Traders in particular are vulnerable to fraud, theft, racial harassment and vandalism. There is dissatisfaction with the reaction and procedures of police to racist incidents. It was felt that racist incidents were seen as having low priority and that assumptions and stereotypes were still made about people from minority ethnic groups and crime or drugs.
Housing
Some groups, particularly older people found it difficult to access information on housing and related issues. There was a perception that minority ethnic groups are allocated council housing in the most deprived areas and are subject to clustering. There was also a fear of increased vulnerability to racist attacks and incidents in council house areas.
Gypsy/Travellers found many Council-provided sites to be of poor quality and location, expensive and subject to unnecessary restrictions. Some were considered unsafe for children and older people and the practice of locating them in out of the way places made them difficult to access for anyone without their own transport.
Social Work
There were general concerns about the quality of some social work services and the important role of social work facilities for older people who felt isolated and alone. Minority ethnic older people living in sheltered accommodation are also isolated and this is an issue which may become more important over time as informal support networks change.
Support Networks and Organisations
- Reduction in Social Networks
The tendency to self-employment within minority ethnic communities contributes to social isolation, particularly for women. Cultural restrictions and a lack of women-only venues may also limit a woman's social contact with other women from both within and outwith her own community.
Poverty
- Entitlement to benefits and Funding
Lack of awareness of benefits and entitlements was a contributing cause of poverty among minority ethnic populations. Many older minority ethnic people have made no pension provision as they did not initially intend to remain in Britain and may have become established in their employment at a later stage of their life.
Poverty may be hidden in apparently wealthy households where women may not have direct access to money.
Other Issues
The media has a continued tendency to focus on negative images of counties in Africa and Asia. Often they are considered newsworthy only in times of crisis and their populations are portrayed with little respect or insight. This may impact on attitudes towards people from minority ethnic groups in this country. Media representation was felt to have been especially negative since September 11 th.
- Community Involvement and Participation
There is a lack of representation of minority ethnic people on representative and decision-making bodies at all levels in Scottish society.
Cross-Cutting Themes
Discrimination and Racism
All groups in the survey evidenced experience of discrimination and racism. These took a variety of forms and included being made to feel 'different'; having job applications rejected based on name, ethnicity or appearance; overt verbal or physical abuse and racially motivated crime. Discrimination was perceived in all sectors including health, education, housing, justice and particularly employment. It may not always be clear the extent to which racism or discrimination is actual or perceived. Previous experiences and the anecdotes of others may lead to an 'expectation ' of racism and discrimination.
The majority of participants believed that most Scottish people were not overtly racist but were 'ignorant' of cultural and ethnic differences and holding negatively stereotyped ideas of people with 'black' skin.
Issues of Culture and Identity
Culture and identity were important for all groups although there were clear differences across generations as younger people increasingly experience integration to the majority population. Older people and many parents were keen to maintain their distinct cultural or religious lifestyle and associated languages and gaps were considered to be developing between themselves and young people including their children.
The acceptance, understanding and tolerance of different cultures by others was however important for everyone. A clear perception was the need for increased education and awareness by others, especially service providers and employers.
Appropriateness and Responsiveness of Services
Many services were difficult to access owing to language barriers, cultural inappropriateness and institutional racism. This raised the issue of specialist provision for minority ethnic communities against mainstream provision. The majority of participants indicated that they would prefer for mainstream services to change rather than for the problems to be addressed by developing services focused on minority ethnic communities. This was felt to serve only to increase discrimination and feelings of 'difference'. Older people tended to feel a greater preference for specialist provision.
Suggested Solutions
A range of realistic and thoughtful solutions to the priority issues identified was offered by participants. These solutions relate to:
- Interpretation and translation services
- Culturally appropriate services
- Better sign-posting and information
- Changing mainstream services
- Educating the majority
- Educating minorities
- Being responsive to small traders
- Better media representation
Recommendations for Research
- We would not recommend a large scale 'new survey' of minority ethnic groups as has been scoped by System 3. Whilst such a survey would provide useful baseline data, there will be significant challenges in reaching all groups especially those who are not visible and hard to reach. We agree with the findings of the workshop (Reid-Howie, 2000) that if a large-scale questionnaire survey is commissioned it should await the results of the 2001 Census before being devised as recommended. Attention should also be given to any gaps in existing large-scale mainstream surveys such as the Census and Scottish Household Survey which should be addressed separately.
- Overall, any survey or research approach will obviously be influenced and determined by the aims and objectives of that research. Decisions about methods therefore should be taken on a case by case basis depending on the aim of the research, the nature of the issues being researched, and the target group whose views and experiences are being researched. This points to the need for a flexible research programme. We would therefore recommend a combination of surveys to inform the research programme and policy decision making which is in line with current thinking within the Scottish Executive. The balance of methods and survey types will be informed once research and policy priorities have been decided by the Executive. This will have the advantage of offering a range of methods to ensure the inclusion of as many groups including those who are hard to reach or who would be excluded for logistical reasons from a large-scale survey as proposed by System 3 (2001), e.g. White minorities, refugees and Island communities.
- To further illuminate the range of interests within minority ethnic communities we agree that representative but smaller scale quantitative surveys of specialist groups should be conducted.
- We would also recommend the use of more qualitative methods such as face to face in-depth individual interviews and focus groups. Participants in this study expressed a preference for such approaches. In addition, qualitative methods are more appropriate for exploring the complexity of the issues raised by the participants.
- Given the confusion by research participants about who this research has been commissioned by, we recommend for any future survey commissioned regardless of method, that clear guidance is given to participants about who has commissioned the research and for what purpose.
- A dissemination strategy should be devised to feedback research findings and associated actions to those who participated in the research.
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