Health Inequalities and Social Inclusion Research Group

Membership

MEMBERS

Dr Peter Unwin (Research Group Lead)
Subject Expertise:  Social Work / Social Justice / Health Inequalities / Safeguarding / Homelessness /
Voices of Lived Experience / Child Sexual Abuse / Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller Issues / Fostering and Adoption

Professor Nick Evans
Subject Expertise:  Rurality / Farming Communities, Farm Families and Farming Stress.

Jess Howdle
Research Associate

Dr Francis Howie
Subject Expertise:  Public Health and narrowing Health Inequalities / Perinatal Mortality and Community Midwifery in the Inner City.

Professor Kay Mohanna
Subject Expertise:  Professor of Values Based Healthcare Education and a practicing GP / Long standing interest in social inequalities / Chair of the medical education sub committee of Doctors Worldwide - a charity working to provide quality and sustainable healthcare services to vulnerable communities around the world. 

Professor Győző Molnár
Subject Expertise:  Politics / Gender Issues / Gypsy, Roma and Travellers

David Palfreyman 
Subject Expertise:  Adult Mental Health / Implementation of Statutory Mental Health Legislation / Social Work

Dr Russell Peek
Subject Expertise:  neonatal medicine / infant nutrition / medical education / impact of health and social inequalities on wellbeing in childhood / worked with multiprofessional guideline development groups with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence / current research explores thriving in medical education.

Dr Catharine Rose
Research Fellow

Dr Clive Sealey
Subject Expertise:  Social Policy particularly poverty and exclusion / general interest in the policy process and analysis, and the interaction of policy with real life.

PhD STUDENTS

Hilda Agyepong
Subject Area:  Adult Social Care / Rurality

Kirsty Cooper
Subject Area:  Media Representation of Marginalised Communities

Jorden Fairfax
Subject Area:  Domestic Violence

Phillipa Feltham–White
Subject Area:  Autism / Military Families

David Palfreyman
Subject Area:  Mental Health / Social Work

Michael Skilbeck
Subject Area:  Gender Issues / Men and Domestic Violence

Shilla Shomai
Subject Area:  Children in Care / Care Leavers / Parenting

Rose Rumsey
Subject Area:  Infant Mental Health

Associate Members

ASSOCIATE MEMBERS

Dr Tam Cane
University of Sussex
Subject Expertise:  Race / Adoption

Dr Rosa Cisneros
University of Coventry
Subject Expertise:  Roma Issues / Women’s empowerment

Josie O’Driscoll
CEO – Gypsy and Traveller Empowerment (GATE Herts)
Subject Expertise:  Racism / Hate Crime / Mental Health and Suicide

Anne Duddington
Carers (IMPACT Group)
Subject Expertise:  Carer issues / Adult Social Care

David Gowar
IMPACT Group
Subject Expertise:  Domestic Violence / Mental Health

Stacey Hodgkins
IMPACT Group
Subject Expertise:  Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller Issues / Pedagogy

John Taylor
Worcestershire, Healthwatch
Subject Expertise:  Health Inequalities / Social Care

Dr Coco Moore
Subject Expertise:  Social Prescribing / Occupational Health

Becki Meakin
Healthwatch
Subject Expertise:  Disability Rights

Current Projects

Members of the group are currently involved in two large-scale research bids - both of which are progressing with the funders.

• NIHR171339 - Empowering Gypsy, and Traveller Women's Groups to reduce health inequalities: An evaluation of the Well Woman initiative. Call: 24/90 PHR Programme researcher-led (£546k).
• Nuffield Foundation - Arthritis and Farmers in England: Impacts, Adaptations and Prevention (£295k)
• To start 2025 - Disruption in foster care placements. The Foster Care Charity (£7k)
• To start 2025 - Evaluation of Yoga and Young People Project. Hereford Yoga Centre (£2.5k)

Completed Projects

Commissioned by NHS Understanding Patient Data, a report ‘ Equitable data collection for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities in health services | Understanding patient data’ reported in January 2025 and is summarised below:

Understanding Patient Data in Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller Communities -Time for Change
The physical and mental health of Gypsies, Roma and Travellers is among the very worst of any ethnic minorities in the UK. Part of the reason for this is because the health service does not collect accurate data about the ethnic backgrounds of the different cultures and are therefore unable to plan for the most appropriate types of services. Many reports over the years have pointed out this failing, but little action has been taken on any of these reports and communities continue to suffer.

At present, the choices open to members of Gypsy Roma and Traveller communities when using health services are often very limited and they might only give choices like ‘White Other‘ . Now, if you are an IrishTraveller or Roma, you will not feel that you are even recognised in such a service, let alone likely to be treated sensitively. One survey respondent stated:

“I definitely don’t want to see ‘Gypsy and Traveller’ together. I want a distinction between ‘Gypsy’ and ‘Traveller’. They are completely different. I want a choice. If there is a choice I will choose ‘Gypsy’.”

Understanding Patient Data (part of the NHS Conferation) recognised the above problems and commissioned the University of Worcester, together with GATE Herts., to research the issues within the affected communities.  Working alongside members of Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller communities, surveys and focus groups took place acros the UK Iin 2024, gathering 111 survey responses and meeting 86 individuals from Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller communities.

A range of views came forward including a feeling of not being welcome in health services, particularly when there were no signs that the professionals knew anything about Gypsy, Roma, or Traveller culture. There was little awareness that health staff, from receptionists to consultants, understood the problems many people experience using digital ways of accessing services these days. Traditionally there has perhaps been a reluctance, particularly in areas of mental health, to seek help and men in particular are have seen asking for help as a sign of weakness . More concerningly, the researchers picked up views that many health professionals were not interested in Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller issues, that they had had no training about their cultures, and shared the same views that many of the public share which are distorted by TV programmes and social media. One participant summarised such issues below:

“We suffered decades of judgement, discrimination, not being listened to or understood. Even if we do speak out, we are often dismissed especially when trying to talk to health professionals. Instead of listening they dismiss us and invalidate us and tell us how we are feeling. So, we shut down and suffer in silence and fend for ourselves. We always get treated differently.”

The fear of the consequences of disclosing ethnicity was a constant issue raised in the survey and focus groups, often rooted in historical bad experiences and a traditional culture which has often encouraged people to hide their identity. Participant views ranged from “I am proud to declare that I am a Gypsy” to “I would never state my ethnicity – it would only lead to bad things”. It was, however, a minority of community members who said that hiding your identity would still be the wise thing to do, whereas the majority understood why ethnicities should be shared if they could trust that the systems and attitudes of staff were non-discriminatory.

Recommendations from the Report were that:

1. Ethnicity data should be collected that represented the specific cultures of Gypsy, Roma, and Travellers in local populations.
2. Self-identification is the generally suggested approach to collecting ethnicity data and health staff should not presume but should ask people how they would like to have their ethnicity recorded.
3. Communication with community members about appointments and other health issues should delivered in ways that community members will respond to, including phone calls and texts.
4. Health services should reach out and build connections with local community organisations, as has happened with the Lincolnshire Traveller Initiative.
5. Health services should plan health improvements with the women from the communities. Women’s Groups are seen as great places to discuss health matters and break down some taboos that prevent long and healthy living.

The following categorisations of Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller were recommended to be adopted by all UK health services:

• English Gypsy / Romany
• Irish Traveller
• Scottish Gypsy Traveller
• Welsh Gypsy / Romany
• Roma
• English Traveller

The research team and Understanding Patient Data are keen that this report does not just go the way of so many others, with lots of fine words but no action. A short video will  be produced to further promote the messages from the research, which will emphasise that we all have a role to play in changing things – community members must question why their ethnicities are not being recorded properly, NHS frontline staff and managers must push for cultural awareness training and Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller organisations must also push for change at local and national level.

Plans are in hand to disseminate the above reports findings through a number of forthcoming conferences and seminars. Three academic articles are planned, and a short video is also being made to increase reach to members of Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller communities.

Selected Outputs

Beresford, P., Golding, F., Hughes, M., Levin, L., Mohamed, O., Schön, U. and Unwin, Peter (2023) Editorial—Special Issue. The British Journal of Social Work, 53 (3). pp. 1275-1281. ISSN 0045-3102 (print) 1468-263X (online)

Davis, Gilda, Gaskin, Kerry, Molnár, Győző and Bentley, Jackie (2024) Places of Farewell: a scoping review exploring factors influencing the choice of place of death for children when death is expected. Comprehensive Child and Adolescent Nursing. pp. 1-19. ISSN Print: 2469-4193 Electronic: 2469-4207

Duddington, Anne (2023) Book Review: Don’t Put Us Away: Memories of a Man with Learning Disabilities, Richard Keagan-Bull. British Journal of Social Work, 53 (3). pp. 1936-1937. ISSN 1468-263X

Duddington, Anne, Gowar, David and Wall, Kay (2023) ‘Nothing about Us without Us’: the Voices of People with Lived Experience in Practice Education and Post-Qualifying Social Work. British Journal of Social Work, 53 (3). pp. 1766-1774. ISSN Online: 1468-263X Print: 0045-3102

Evans, Nick (2021) Where there's (farm) muck, there's brass [Book Review]. Dialogues in Human Geography. pp. 1-4. ISSN ISSN: 2043-8206 Online ISSN: 2043-8214

Gowar, David (2023) Curled up. British Journal of Social Work, 53 (3). pp. 1863-1864. ISSN Online: 1468-263X Print: 0045-3102

Grant, S., Allen, R., Nosowska, G., Cree, V., Cullen, A., Holloway, M., Golightley, M., Higgins, M., Pinkerton, J., Unwin, Peter and Ward, D. (2022) Editorial: Resilient, Steadfast and Forward-Looking: The Story of Social Work in the UK Told through 50 Years of the British Journal of Social Work. The British Journal of Social Work, 52 (2). e1-e25. ISSN 0045-3102 (print) 1468-263X (online)

Hamilton, L., Evans, Nick and Allcock, J. (2019) "I don't go to Meetings": Understanding Farmer Perspectives on Bovine TB and Biosecurity Training. The Veterinary Record, 184 (13). ISSN 2042-7670

Howie, Neil, Howie, Frances and Seville, Peter (2023) Comparison of the scope of practice of physician associates with that of healthcare professions with prescribing responsibility from point of registration. Future Healthcare Journal, 10 (1). pp. 38-45. ISSN Print: 2514-6645, Online: 2514-6653

Hughes, M., Unwin, Peter, Beresford, P., Mohamed, O., Levin, L. and Golding, F. (2024) Editorial: the Voice and Influence of People with Lived Experience: our Reflections One Year on. British Journal of Social Work, 54 (5). pp. 1783-1789. ISSN Online: 1468-263X Print: 0045-3102 (In Press)

Kyei, S. and Howie, Frances (2024) Supporting Black African Students to Engage More in Physical Activity: A Qualitative Study of Lived Experiences in the Midlands, UK. Health & Social Care in the Community. pp. 1-11. ISSN 1365-2524

Mills, S. and Unwin, Peter (2020) Perspectives of volunteers and professionals working County Lines. Youth & Policy. ISSN 2057-4266

Mohamed, O., Schön, U. and Unwin, Peter (2023) Introduction to Academic Papers Section. The British Journal of Social Work, 53 (3). pp. 1282-1284. ISSN 0045-3102 (print) 1468-263X (online)

Molnár, Győző (2023) Nationalism and sport intersection in Hungary: building fences, expanding nationhood. National Identities. ISSN 1469-9907

Molnár, Győző and Bullingham, Rachael (2022) Routledge Handbook of Gender Politics in Sport and Physical Activity. Routledge International Handbooks . Routledge, London. ISBN 9780367555221; 9781003093862

Moore, Coco, Unwin, Peter, Evans, Nick and Howie, Frances (2022) Social prescribing: Exploring general practitioners' and healthcare professionals' perceptions of, and engagement with, the NHS model. Health & Social Care in the Community, 30 (6). e5176-e5185. ISSN Online: 1365-2524

Moore, Coco, Unwin, Peter, Evans, Nick and Howie, Frances (2023) ‘Winging it’: An exploration of the self-perceived professional identity of social prescribing link workers. Health and Social Care in the Community. Article ID 8488615. ISSN Online: 1365-2524

Mycock, David and Molnar, Gyozo (2020) 'The blind leading the blind’ - A reflection on coaching blind football. European Journal of Adapted Physical Activity, 14 (3). ISSN 1803-3857

Mycock, David, Harding, Glyn, Williams, Craig and Molnár, Győző (2024) Working with Disabilities in Youth Grassroots Soccer. In: Science and Practice of Youth Soccer. Routledge, New York, pp. 73-88. ISBN 9781032665238

Osborne, R. and Evans, Nick (2019) Friend or foe? UK farmers' relationships with the weather. Journal of Rural Studies, 72 (Dec 19). pp. 205-215. ISSN 0743-0167

Postlethwaite, Verity, Kohe, Geoff and Molnar, Gyozo (2019) Inspiring a Generation: an Examination of Stakeholder Relations in the Context of London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics Educational Programmes. Managing Sport and Leisure, 23 (4-6). pp. 391-407. ISSN Print: 2375-0472 Online: 2375-0480

Price, L. and Unwin, Peter (2022) Being a Gypsy. In: Social Exclusion in the UK: The Lived Experience. Critical Publishing, St Albans, pp. 139-152. ISBN 978-1-915080-38-7 • EPUB ISBN: 978-1-915080-39-4 • Adobe e-book ISBN: 978-1-915080-40-0

Rooney, Joy and Unwin, Peter (2021) Service user and carers' views of best practice in student selection at an English University. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 45 (5). pp. 641-653. ISSN 0309-877X Online: 1469-9486

Rooney, Joy, Unwin, Peter and Shah, Prag (2019) Keeping Us Grounded: Academic Staff Perceptions of Service User and Carer Involvement in Health and Social Work Training. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 43 (7). pp. 929-941. ISSN 0309-877X Online: 1469-9486

Sarbu, Raluca and Unwin, Peter (2021) Complexities in Student Placements Under COVID-19 Moral and Practical Considerations. Frontiers in Education, 6 (654843). ISSN 2504-284X

Sealey, Clive and Unwin, Peter (2022) Social Policy, Service Users and Carers: Lived Experiences and Perspectives, edited by Clive Sealey, Joy Fillingham and Peter Unwin. Palgrave Macmillan, Springer Nature Switzerland AG. ISBN 978-3-030-69876-8 ISBN: 978-3-030-69875-1

Shomai, Shilla, Unwin, Peter and Sealey, Clive (2024) Kidfluencers' lived experiences of influencer culture: a time for regulation? International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 44 (11/12). pp. 1109-1122. ISSN 0144-333X

Spencer, N. and Molnár, Győző (2024) Adapted Physical Activity. In: Routledge Resources Online: Sport Studies - Sport Education - Systems, Settings and Theories. Routledge Resources Online . Routledge.

Thomas, Gavin, Guinan, Jaime and Molnár, Győző (2021) ‘It’s not particularly P.C., you know…’ Women coaches’ performing gender in strength and conditioning. Women in Sport and Physical Activity Journal, 29 (2). pp. 106-116. ISSN 1063-6161 (print) 1938-1581 (eISSN)

Unwin, Peter (2020) Disabled people could be part of the answer to the fostering crisis. The Municipal Journal. ISSN 0143-4187

Unwin, Peter (2020) Excluding Disabled People from Fostering is Letting Down Children. Local Government Chronicle. ISSN 0024-5534

Unwin, Peter (2020) We need to reach out to disabled people in Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities. The Municipal Journal. ISSN 0143-4187

Unwin, Peter (2023) Book Reviews—Introduction. British Journal of Social Work, 53 (3). p. 1929. ISSN Online: 1468-263X Print: 0045-3102

Unwin, Peter (2024) Including the Excluded - Social Work with Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller Communities. In: BASW UK Conference - A Sustainable Future for Social Work, June 18th-19th 2024, Edinburgh, Scotland. (Unpublished)

Unwin, Peter (2024) Who Carers? - Caring in Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller communities. In: Who Cares! Care-Full Conversations - supporting those who care, October 2nd 2024, Focolare Centre for Unity, Welwyn Garden City. (Unpublished)

Unwin, Peter and Hulmes, A. (2024) Rural Social Work with Romani and Travellers. In: Rural Social Work in the UK: Themes and Challenges for the Future. Rethinking Rural (RR) (Chap 4). Palgrave MacMillan, Cham, Switzerland, pp. 91-112. ISBN Hardcover ISBN 978-3-031-52439-4 • Softcover ISBN 978-3-031-52442-4 • eBook ISBN 978-3-031-52440-0

Unwin, Peter and Jones, Alexandra (2021) ‘Educate, Empower and Inspire’: An evaluation of a preventative service for young people at risk of sexual exploitation. Child Abuse Review, 30 (1). pp. 62-70. ISSN Print: 0952-9136 Online: 1099-0852

Unwin, Peter and Rooney, Joy (2020) The 'nuts and bolts' of including service users and carers in the recruitment of health and social work students in an English university - An interdisciplinary critique. Health Expectations, 23 (6). pp. 1523-1532. ISSN 1369-6513 Online: 1369-7625

Unwin, Peter,  O’Driscoll, J., Hulmes, A., Hodgkins, S., McPhee, S., Cisneros, R. Bolton, J. and Molnár, Győző . (2025) Equitable Data Collection for Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller Communities in Health Services. London. Understanding Patient Data.

Unwin, Peter, Meakin, B. and Jones, Alexandra (2020) 'Mutual Benefits' – The Potential of Disabled People as Foster Carers. Project Report. University of Worcester, Worcester.

Unwin, Peter, Meakin, B. and Jones, Alexandra (2020) The Missing Voices of Disabled People in Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Communities. Project Report. University of Worcester, Worcester.

Unwin, Peter, Meakin, B. and Jones, Alexandra (2024) Disabled people as foster carers - closing the recruitment gap and more. Disability and Society. pp. 1-19. ISSN Print: 0968-7599; Electronic: 1360-0508

Current Opportunities

We welcome proposals from prospective students with interests in any areas aligned to our Research Group. 

Approaches from self-supporting PhD students are accepted all year round.

Please contact Dr Peter Unwin (p.unwin@worc.ac.uk) to express an interest along with an outline of your research ideas and how they relate to Health Inequalities and Social Inclusion Research Group.