This PHIRST webinar took place on Thursday 7 May 2026.

The central mission of the National Institute for Health and Care Research is to is to improve the health and wealth of the nation through research. Central to this mission is ensuring that research meaningfully reflects the diversity of the populations it aims to serve. Yet traditional research approaches often adopt a “one size fits all” model, which can inadvertently exclude people who face additional barriers to participating in research, including those from underserved groups.

This NIHR PHIRST webinar brought together three evaluations that engaged closely with such populations. Through these case studies, presenters shared practical insights into what worked well, what proved challenging, and what was learned to support more inclusive and context‑sensitive public health research.

Webinar presentations

Understanding equity and reach of Camden’s Best Start for Baby service, presenters: Sarah Janac PHIRST Elevate Knowledge Broker based at Edinburgh University, and Anna Boath, PHIRST Elevate Research Fellow based at Edinburgh University (07:07–19:12)
View the presentation slides (PDF: 13 slides)
Abstract: The Best Start for Baby (BSfB) service is an enhanced health visiting intervention in the London Borough of Camden. It consists of eight key contacts from antenatal to two years. BSfB aims to ensure that every family in Camden receives timely, evidence-based, and coordinated support for perinatal mental health and parent-infant relationship needs through an integrated, inclusive and family-centred early years approach. We will discuss logistical and ethical considerations to recruiting, collecting data from, paying and reimbursing interview, focus group and public involvement group participants. We will discuss these aspects in relation to five key groups who were identified by Camden as under-served and/or had low service engagement: (1)Black African and Black Caribbean families, (2)Bangladeshi families, (3)Families who live in temporary accommodation (families experiencing homelessness, refugees), (4)Those who have experienced perinatal mental health difficulties and (5)Dads.
+ View details of the evaluation, An evaluation of Camden’s Best Start for Baby service

The Falls Management Exercise (FaME) Programme, Lincolnshire, presenters: Tricia Jessiman, PHIRST Insight Research Fellow based at Bristol University, and Bev Pattison, Public Contributor on the FaME evaluation (19:12–38:59).
View the presentation slides (PDF: 10 slides)
Abstract: PHIRST Insight conducted a mixed-methods evaluation of The Falls Management Exercise (FaME) Programme in 2023/4 in Lincolnshire. A 24-week structured group exercise programme to improve strength and balance, and reduce falls, amongst the over-65s. The evaluation, which recruited 110 older adults to take part in routine quantitative data collection and 40 in qualitative interviews, reported improvements in functional skills and a reduction in falls incidence amongst participants. Participants also had high rates of completion, and reported a range of benefits they attributed to the intervention. The presentation will focus on the methods used to recruit older adults (including those who declined to participate in the intervention) to the qualitative elements of the study, including accessible information sheets, in-person introductions to the study and face-to-face data collection. The study methods were co-developed with two public partners, both older adults living in Lincolnshire.
+ View details of the evaluation, An evaluation of the Falls Management Exercise (FaME) programme in Lincolnshire

Project Phoenix and Project Athena: support for prison leavers, presenter: Krysia Canvin, PHIRST PHRESH Research Fellow based at Keele University (38:59–53:14).
View presentation slides (PDF: 15 slides)
Abstract: There are approximately 80,000 people in prison in England and Wales, and of these, around 44,000–64,000 return to the community annually. Evidence suggests that prison leavers are at a high risk of premature death, unmet health needs, undiagnosed mental health problems, violent crime, and drug and alcohol use. Projects Phoenix and Athena are cross-agency resettlement interventions providing tailored, long-term support to men and women leaving prison and returning to North East Lincolnshire. In this seminar we will discuss the challenges involved in evaluating individualised interventions of this nature with extremely marginalised and stigmatised groups where impact may be modest or inconsistent, from collecting data to assessing impact.
+ View details of the evaluation, An evaluation of projects Phoenix and Athena in North East Lincolnshire

The session included a panel discussion with all presenters and invited contributors exploring cross‑cutting themes, methodological considerations, and practical strategies for conducting evaluation research with underserved groups (53:14–1:08:07).

Presenters also answered questions submitted by attendees (1:08:07–1:23:32).

Blogs

In addition to the presentations, PHIRSTs Connect and South Bank also reflected on the topic of involving under-served groups in the public health evaluations they have conducted. These are available to read by clicking the links below:

PHIRST Connect, engaging under-served populations in public health research

PHIRST South Bank, working with under-served communities in evaluation research

Knowledge Mobilisation

A key aim of the PHIRST scheme is that the knowledge gained in each evaluation can be shared and used to inform future public health decision making, policies and practice. The outputs created to share the findings of each evaluation are always co-developed with stakeholders to ensure they have all the information they need to apply the findings and recommendations to their intervention. Alongside traditional outputs such as reports, research briefings, and academic publications PHIRST also likes to consider different approaches to target different audiences.

In her blog, Sarah Janac, Knowledge Broker for PHIRST Elevate based at the University of Edinburgh considers whether a lengthy report should always be the default output and highlights other formats generated by PHIRST. Read more on her blog.

Its important to try and share research findings with people that participated in the research. In PHIRST Fusion’s evaluation of the impact of covid community champions in the West Midlands the key findings were condensed to postcards, translated into the most commonly spoken languages in the area and distributed to locations where researchers had been collecting data.

Creative methods are often noted as improving accessibility in research, making the process less intimidating and breaking down hierarchies between researchers, public contributors and participants. Poetry has been used in a number of PHIRST evaluations:

+ Lambeth Made Safer, watch now on YouTube
+ Complicating Community Connections, watch now on YouTube
+ Basis Leeding Drug and alcohol support, watch now on YouTube

Animations can also be a great way to share findings. For their evaluation of a school streets scheme in Newcastle Upon Tyne the PHIRST Light team were keen to highlight the voices of children at the schools involved. They wanted an output that children could use to start a conversation with their parents and guardians about different ways they could travel to school, watch now on YouTube.