MED MOT: Participation against social inequality in health

MED MOT is a model for user participation in population studies that is particularly aimed at vulnerable groups and aims to lower the threshold for participation.

Issue: Social inequality in health is one of the biggest problems facing the Norwegian welfare state. More research is needed on risk factors for and effects of social health differences, and measures that can lift the weakest and prevent illness and early death.
For almost 50 years, the Tromsø Study has collected data from the entire population of Tromsø. It is considered one of the most important data sources for research on the general population in Norway. Unfortunately, the weakest groups participate the least, which results in insufficient data for these groups. We also see the same pattern in the other large population surveys and in health campaigns aimed at the entire population, which became very clear during the Covid 19 pandemic. Figures from Tromsø7 show, for example, that only 15% of male immigrants with a background from Eastern Europe participated in the data collection, compared to 65% among men born in Norway. People with primary school as their highest completed education participate to a significantly lesser extent than people who have completed upper secondary school or university education, and there is a markedly lower turnout among people with a total household income of less than NOK 350,000.
Aim: The MED MOT project aims to map obstacles to participation among the groups that participate the least, propose measures that lower the threshold for participation and implement changes in the next data collection, Tromsø8, in 2025-26. The project uses service design as a method, and it is the target groups themselves who define issues and propose solutions.
The phases of the project:
1. Recruitment and method development, including visualization of the participant journey and design of personas
2. Workshops with selected participants
3. Delivery: Insight report including visualization of new participant journey and revised personas
4. Implementation in Tromsø8
The Tromsø Study has brought in cutting-edge expertise in service design and cross-cultural dialogue through the diversity agency 'Vi er OSS'. Kirkens Bymisjon Tromsø assists with the recruitment of participants for the project. FHI, the Directorate of Health and Tromsø municipality participate in the project's resource group.
Overall effect targets:
• Increase participation among vulnerable groups in Tromsø8 and obtain representative data for research on social health differences
• Lower the threshold for participation also among the rest of the population
• Develop a model for participation in data collections that address "everyone"
• Give vulnerable groups a real opportunity for democratic participation and co-determination
The project is scheduled to start in March 2023. We aim to be able to present findings from workshops at the Public Health Conference in September.