Co-Designing a Peer Navigator Role to Improve Equity in Healthcare Access for Pacific Islander, Māori and Arabic...

There is a great deal of variation in the design and delivery of the peer health navigator role, making it difficult to adapt role responsibilities into context. In this study, we aimed to co-design a bicultural peer health navigator (BPHN) role to meet the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) people from Pacific Islander, Māori and Arabic-speaking backgrounds.

A two-phase co-design approach involving workshops with follow-up member checking via interview was used to gain insight into factors affecting patient interaction and access barriers to health services.

Barriers described by participants emerged under five major themes-overcoming language barriers, improving communication, navigation and access to information, appointment reminders, and health and social services education in the community.

Clear tasks for the BPHN role were identified by the participants to improve accessibility and usage of healthcare services. Future work should involve feasibility testing with the support and involvement of community members, BPHNs and their supervisors and importantly health service leaders.

Four of the authors were employed as bicultural peer health navigators (BPHNs) who engaged their communities to organise and conduct these workshops in their preferred language. This approach enabled an inclusive environment for the participants to share their thoughts and experiences. The proposed roles for a BPHN were generated from the workshop discussions. The BPHNs conducted the semi-structured verification interviews with the workshop participants. The thematic analysis was conducted by two of the BPHNs, with one being the primary author.