We recently piloted our ‘So what?’ club which provides a space for people not overly familiar with academic articles to better understand their content and structure.
The Coventry Health Determinants research Collaboration (HDRC) piloted a ‘So what?’ club with the public health team at Coventry City Council. Similar to journal clubs that are common in public health academia and practice, the ‘So what?’ club provides a space where people who are not overly familiar with academic articles to become familiar with their content and structure. It encourages participants to critically read academic articles, consider the strengths and limitations, and consider how research could benefit their own work. By upskilling and being more familiar with research, individuals can use a wider range of evidence to benefit their work.
In the first session, participants discussed a paper that linked police domestic abuse and data in South Wales to consider if vulnerable individuals could be detected before and after the involvement of police. The discussion ranged from summarising the paper, highlighting the novel study design, considering whether a similar study could feasibly be conducted in Coventry, and how the findings from studies not conducted in Coventry could be applied to the local area.
Topics for future ‘So what?’ discussions include the impact of planning on the food environment and suicide prevention.
If you are interested in joining the ‘So what?’ club, or in implementing a similar initiative, then please contact: Coventry HDRC@coventry.gov.uk.