People living in poorer places tend to have lower life expectancy than people living in richer places - we call this health inequality. There are many factors that contribute to this difference in life expectancy, including the living and working conditions in different places – we call these factors the wider social determinants of health. One determinant is how far people feel welcome in the services they use. This was identified by our partners as an important issue.
Researchers often identify issues and topics they are interested in exploring and then seek members of the public to help them. Instead, we spent time talking to people from disadvantaged places and backgrounds who are often excluded from research to find out what issues and topics they wanted explore. They told us that to improve their health and wellbeing they needed to access support services related to their living and working conditions, like housing support, debt advice and social services. They told us that they often felt ‘out of place’ in these settings, and this sometimes stopped them from seeking the support they need. Existing evidence shows that people from certain backgrounds and places are less likely to access support services.

We will work with co-researchers with lived experience of feeling ‘out of place’ when accessing support services. Our co-researchers will become part of our research team. They will help us to:
i) Identify settings where people like them do and do not feel like they belong, and
ii) Identify the conditions that make them feel this way.
iii) Translate this knowledge into a toolkit to aid support services to create inclusive conditions

The work will be supported by a knowledge partnership made up of members of the public from disadvantaged places and backgrounds. The knowledge partnership will provide a space for discussion and reflection. This will inform decision making about how to support providers to create and sustain spaces that make people feel they belong. The partnership will also help to co-create an output (a toolkit) for service providers to use to audit and improve their interactions with marginalised groups. In the long term, this will help to create the conditions that make people feel as though they belong when they use services, and thus support equitable service provision. We will monitor how well we work together in the co-creation process by making a co-creation plan and regularly reflecting on our progress. This process will improve understanding of the co-creation process.