The role of civil society organizations (CSOs) as community-based knowledge brokers: A qualitative study with CSOs during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7146/qhc.139668Keywords:
civil society organizations, community-based knowledge brokers, COVID-19, public health communicationAbstract
Background: This study explored how civil society organizations in British Columbia, Canada, obtained, shared, and communicated multilingual COVID-19 information with people whose first language is not English. Aim: The aim was to examine civil society organizations’ role as community-based knowledge brokers during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Commencing in December 2022, virtual semi-structured interviews were conducted with employees from civil society organizations in British Columbia (N=15). Results: Civil society organizations played a crucial role in sharing multilingual information with people whose first language is not English. They amplified public health messages, addressed confusion concerning public health orders, and engaged with community members to better understand and address local needs. Discussion: Civil society organizations contributed to health communication efforts and succeeded in reaching populations overlooked by mainstream communication channels. Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic provides an opportunity to reflect on the role of civil society organizations as community-based knowledge brokers that acted as intermediaries to support information-sharing from government public health communications to priority populations. Based on this study’s findings, we propose several recommendations to enhance equity-based preparedness, responses, and recovery for health emergencies.
References
Ahmad, R., & Hillman, S. (2021). Laboring to communicate: Use of migrant languages in COVID-19 awareness campaign in Qatar. Multilingua, 40(3), 303–337. https://doi.org/10.1515/multi-2020–0119
Ahmadinia, H., Eriksson-Backa, K., & Nikou, S. (2022). Health information seeking behaviour during exceptional times: A case study of Persian-speaking minorities in Finland. Library & Information Science Research, 44(2), 101156. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lisr.2022.101156
Bhalla, M., Boutros, H., & Meyer, S. B. (2022). Aunties, WhatsApp, and “haldi da doodh”: South Asian communities’ perspectives on improving COVID-19 public health communication in Ontario, Canada. Canadian Journal of Public Health, 113(1), 1–8.
Bokore, N., & Premachuk, J. (2021). Community service provider’s stories: COVID-19 impacts and vulnerable Canadians. Journal of Sociological Research, 12(2), 44.
Buchanan, G. J., Ballard, J., Fatiha, N., Song, S., & Solheim, C. (2022). Resilience in the system: COVID-19 and immigrant-and refugee-serving health and human service providers. Families, Systems, & Health, 40(1), 111. https://doi.org/10.5296/jsr.v12i2.18272
Cáceres, N. A., Shirazipour, C. H., Herrera, E., Figueiredo, J. C., & Salvy, S. J. (2022). Exploring Latino Promotores/a de Salud (community health workers) knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of COVID-19 vaccines. SSM-Qualitative Research in Health, 2, 100033. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmqr.2021.100033
Cheng, Y., & Yang, L. (2019). Providing public services without relying heavily on government funding: How do nonprofits respond to government budget cuts?. The American Review of Public Administration, 49(6), 675–688. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0275074018806085
Cholera, R., Falusi, O. O., & Linton, J. M. (2020). Sheltering in place in a xenophobic climate: COVID-19 and children in immigrant families. American Academy of Pediatrics, 146(1).
Clarke, S. K., Kumar, G. S., Sutton, J., Atem, J., Banerji, A., Brindamour, M., Geltman & Zaaeed, N. (2021). Potential impact of COVID-19 on recently resettled refugee populations in the United States and Canada: Perspectives of refugee healthcare providers. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 23(1), 184–189.
Clément, D. (2021). Big data reveals inequities in federal funding for nonprofits across Canada. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/bigdata-reveals-inequities-in-federal-funding-for-non-profits-across-canada-160496
Cvitanovic, C., Cunningham, R., Dowd, A. M., Howden, S. M., & Van Putten, E. I. (2017). Using social network analysis to monitor and assess the effectiveness of knowledge brokers at connecting scientists and decision‐makers: An Australian case study. Environmental Policy and Governance, 27(3), 256–269. https://doi.org/10.1002/eet.1752
Dobbins, M., Robeson, P., Ciliska, D., Hanna, S., Cameron, R., O’Mara, L., DeCorby, K., & Mercer, S. (2009). A description of a knowledge broker role implemented as part of a randomized controlled trial evaluating three knowledge translation strategies. Implementation Science, 4(1), 23. https://doi.org/10.1186/1748–5908–4-23
Ghahari, S., Burnett, S., & Alexander, L. (2020). Development and pilot testing of a health education program to improve immigrants’ access to Canadian health services. BMC Health Services Research, 20, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913–020–05180-y
Gómez, E. J. (2018). Civil society in global health policymaking: A critical review. Globalization and Health, 14, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12992–018–0393–2
Gonzalez Benson, O., Routte, I., Pimentel Walker, A. P., Yoshihama, M., & Kelly, A. (2022). Refugee-led organizations’ crisis response during the COVID-19 pandemic. Refuge: Canada’s Journal on Refugees, 38(1), 62–77. https://doi.org/10.25071/1920–7336.40879
Harris, M., Ekwonye, A., Munala, L., Buesseler, H., & Hearst, M. O. (2021). Exploring knowledge, prevention methods, and prevention barriers of COVID-19 among Somali, Karen, and Latinx community members in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. Journal of Primary Care & Community Health, 12, 21501327211056596. https://doi.org/10.1177/21501327211056595
Haws, E., & Kapelos, V. (2020). Charities and nonprofits struggling to stay afloat during pandemic, says Imagine Canada. CBC News. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/pandemic-covid-coronavirus-charities-1.5548590
Jaramillo, E. T., Willging, C. E., Green, A. E., Gunderson, L. M., Fettes, D. L., & Aarons, G. A. (2019). “Creative Financing”: Funding evidence-based interventions in human service systems. The Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research, 46, 366–383. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11414–018–9644–5
Lane, G., Hengstermann, M., White, J., & Vatanparast, H. (2021). Newcomer challenges with accessing healthcare services in Saskatchewan, Canada. Border Crossing, 11(2), 155–172. https://doi.org/10.33182/bc.v11i2.1222
Martini, C., Battisti, D., Bina, F., & Consolandi, M. (2022). Knowledge brokers in crisis: Public communication of science during the COVID-19 pandemic. Social Epistemology, 36(5), 656–669. https://doi.org/10.1080/02691728.2022.2116961
McAlpine, A., Kobayashi, K., George, U., & Fuller-Thomson, E. (2022). Self-reported health of working-age refugees, immigrants, and the Canadian-born. Advances in Public Health, 2022, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/9429242
Mitic, W., & I. Rootman. (2012). An intersectoral approach for improving health literacy for Canadians. https://phabc.org/publications/an-inter-sectoral-approach-for-improving-health-literacy-for-canadians2012/
Ng, E., & Omariba, D. W. R. (2014). Immigration, generational status and health literacy in Canada. Health Education Journal, 73(6), 668–682. https://doi.org/10.1177/0017896913511809
Nöstlinger, C., Van Landeghem, E., Vanhamel, J., Rotsaert, A., Manirankunda, L., Ddungu, C., Reyniers, T., Katsuva, D., Vercruyssen, J., Dielen, S., & Meudec, M. (2022). COVID-19 as a social disease: qualitative analysis of COVID-19 prevention needs, impact of control measures and community responses among racialized/ethnic minorities in Antwerp, Belgium. International Journal for Equity in Health, 21(1), 67. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939–022–01672-x
Phipps, D., & Morton, S. (2013). Qualities of knowledge brokers: Reflections from practice. Evidence & Policy, 9(2), 255–265. https://doi.org/10.1332/174426413X667784
Roth, B. J., Woo, B., & Doering-White, J. (2023). Brokering resources during a pandemic: Exploring how organizations and clinics responded to the needs of immigrant communities during COVID-19. Social Work, 68(1), 57–67. https://doi.org/10.1093/sw/swac048
Seale, H., Harris-Roxas, B., Heywood, A., Abdi, I., Mahimbo, A., Chauhan, A., & Woodland, L. (2022). Speaking COVID-19: Supporting COVID-19 communication and engagement efforts with people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities. BMC Public Health, 22(1), 1257. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889–022–13680–1
Smythe, S., Wilbur, A., & Hunter, E. (2021). Inventive pedagogies and social solidarity: The work of community-based adult educators during COVID-19 in British Columbia, Canada. International Review of Education, 67(1), 9–29. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159–021–09882–1
South Asian Health Institute. (n.d.). South Asian Health Institute. Fraser Health. https://www.fraserhealth.ca/health-topics-a-to-z/south-asian-health/south-asian-health-institute#.ZBDYSeMJhE
Statistics Canada. (2021). Top 10 places of birth reported by recent immigrants Canada, 2016 and 2021. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/221026/g-a005-eng.htm
Statistics Canada. (2022). Knowledge of languages by age and gender: Canada, provinces and territories, census divisions and census subdivisions. https://doi.org/10.25318/9810021601-eng
Suva, C., Liu, J., Sigurdson, E., Torio, J. E., & Benson, O. G. (2022). A case study of community-based, cross-sectoral crisis response to the COVID-19 pandemic: Serving racialized immigrant communities. Global Social Welfare, 9(3), 193–202. https://doi.org/10.1007%2Fs40609–022–00223–0
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Simran Purewal, Julia Smith, Anne-Marie Nicole
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Articles submitted to Qualitative Health Communication should not be submitted to or published in other journals.
Articles published in Qualitative Health Communication may be used (downloaded) and reused (distributed, copied, cited) for non-commercial purposes with reference to the authors and publication host.
For all publications published in the first four issues, i.e. 1(1), 1(2), 2(1) and 3(1), copyright is shared between the author and QHC. For all future publications, the author is the sole copyright holder.
