Facilitating research participation through a research navigator programme: researchers' insights from a project with...

Underrepresentation of vulnerable populations, such as asylum seekers and refugees, remains a persistent challenge in health research, often due to barriers such as limited access, mistrust, and logistical constraints. The study explored researchers' experiences of using community-based research navigators to facilitate participation among asylum seekers and refugees in a research project conducted in Sweden.

A descriptive qualitative design was employed, involving eight in-depth interviews with four researchers before and after implementing the community-based research navigator programme. The community-based research navigator programme recruited volunteers from the target population, including Syrian, Eritrean, and Somalian refugees and asylum seekers to support participation in the research project, in Sweden. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis guided by Braun and Clarke's six-phase framework.

The researchers experienced the community-based research navigators as a 'critical enabler of participant recruitment and recognition', while expressed 'complexities of intergroup relationships and logistics' which are the two main themes of the results. Navigators' meaningful engagement and recognition and community-based language concordance as a trust builder are the two subthemes of critical enabler of participant recruitment. Complexities of intergroup relationships and logistics is manifested in three subthemes of power dynamics, communication and relational challenges and logistic challenges.

The community-based research navigator programme showed to be a valuable yet complex strategy for facilitating research participation among asylum seekers and refugees, according to the participating researchers. It also may involve ethical and logistical challenges that require careful planning and sensitive implementation. Tailored training, culture-sensitive approaches, and recognition of intergroup dynamics are essential for enhancing the similar programme's effectiveness. This approach holds promise for improving inclusivity and equity in health research involving hard-to-reach populations, such as asylum-seekers and refugees.