Scheme Has Improved Drug Awareness, Services, And Researchers’ Opportunities

Asking drug dealers to talk candidly might seem like taking your life in your hands. But local volunteers recruited to carry out research among pushers, users and their families in the BD5 postal area of Bradford have presented a vivid portrait of the impact of drugs on their community.

One of the volunteer researchers, 38-year-old Nasser Malik, got involved in the Bradford Community Interactors research project because he had been brought up in the area and was shocked to see the scale of the problem upon his return. “A lot of friends had moved on from the occasional spliff to heroin and other class A drugs,” he says. “It’s become an epidemic.”

Malik, who hopes to go on to work in drugs services, stresses that trust and confidentiality were vital when conducting the research: “You need to be streetwise and it would have been dangerous for an outsider to approach local dealers. Talking to them showed how people get into dealing: because they have no qualifications, opportunities or direction and see dealers with nice cars; to supply their own habit; and for status.”

The one-year community interactors project, funded by regeneration partnership Bradford Trident and managed by Ripple Drugs Services, revealed a need for better information on drugs services. Malik says: “Lots of people weren’t aware what is available. Users and dealers thought people got better services after they were convicted. Even dealers thought there should be more help earlier on.”

Another researcher, Ali Hussain, who works for the NHS, says the project appealed to him as a way of highlighting drug misuse among young people and because it entailed training that resulted in a university qualification.

The 13 volunteers learned research methods and computer skills during workshops delivered by the University of Central Lancashire (Uclan). They visited clinics and other drug services before carrying out interviews in the community and devised a questionnaire with support from Uclan, a liaison worker and a group of professionals and community leaders.

Accessing people from the black and minority ethnic population was a priority because their uptake of services was low. Hussain says that, as a member of the Asian community, his understanding of the culture helped shape the questionnaire by pinpointing matters such as stigma among families of drug users.

Alistair Watmuff, a recovering addict, was looking for a bridge into employment when he heard volunteer researchers were needed. He says: “I knew how to approach drug users because I’ve been there myself and I know the networks.” Watmuff now works for a mental health service and is taking NVQ2 qualifications.

Darrell Gregoire, programme manager at Bradford Trident, says: “There was a reluctance among the community to talk about the drugs problem. Uclan’s community engagement research model was chosen because it raised local awareness and reached people deemed ‘hard to reach.'”

He says that “the research has been a springboard to develop services and pull in funding”. It showed providers that earlier intervention and culturally sensitive approaches are needed. Services are now better advertised and leaflets are available in a range of languages.

A total of 120 questionnaires were completed. The project cost £50,000 for the liaison worker’s part-time salary, Uclan training and volunteers’ expenses, and childcare and interpreters’ costs.

The community engagement research model was introduced by Uclan’s Centre for Ethnicity and Health in 2000. Since then, more than 250 voluntary and statutory organisations have used it to examine substance misuse, crime and mental and sexual health issues.

As 75% of the volunteers who take part in projects complete assignments to receive a Uclan certificate in community research, and many want careers in drug or mental health services, it is also a way of developing capacity to meet skills shortages in these services.

· More on Uclan’s community engagement at uclan.ac.uk