Research in the Wessex region in relation to women and girls’ health and care needs.

Abstract

This report was commissioned by the Women’s Health Programme Boards of the respective Dorset and Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Boards. The request was to provide an insight into research recently and currently undertaken in the Wessex region in relation to women and girls, following the national and regional priority setting to meet women’s health needs. The project - to investigate historical and current research in Wessex - involved extracting data from research databases over the past five years and speaking to researchers to hear their stories, the challenges they faced and implementation of their work. The electronic data covered a large number of research studies in the region. However, it is recognised the data will be incomplete due to differing terminology, study titles and varying classification across different database systems. In addition, much research is not gender specific. Further research continues to emerge, and more researchers in the region are being identified. A selection of stories from the researchers interviewed are presented in the report, noting that not all potential researchers in the region participated and not every story could be told. The researchers provided a richness to the data collected and expressed enthusiasm to develop the research agenda for women further and work collaboratively. The work undertaken for the report has initiated connectivity which has set the foundations for further development to benefit women’s research in the region. Numerous challenges were identified by the researchers, with culture and resources cited as key issues. It was not possible to ascertain, in most cases, the evidence of implementation of the research, due to the time scales of the project plan and requirement for further in-depth investigation. Recommendations have not been offered within the report, as this is considered the basis for further discussion and decision making. The findings in the report are designed to inform and support the Women’s Health Programme Boards of the ICBs for these future discussions and develop recommendations to ultimately influence the prioritisation of women’s research in Wessex going forward.