The role of intersectionality in shaping participant engagement with health research through digital methods: findings from a qualitative study

Abstract

Background: digital research methods were rapidly adopted into clinical trials and health research during the COVID pandemic in 2020. Current UK policy aims to make digital research methods a norm, but their influence on recruitment, retention, and representation in health research remains largely unknown. Whilst efforts have been made to improve engagement with digital health interventions, less attention has been given to digital research methods—such as informed consent, data collection, and research communications—despite their potential to influence study participation and participant experience. 

Objective: this qualitative study aims to understand the factors influencing the initial uptake and ongoing engagement with digital research methods across diverse populations, capturing experiences and perspectives to inform diverse and efficient health research conduct. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 50 people who had participated in health research in the past 12 months. Reflective thematic analysis was used to understand factors influencing study engagement from participant perspectives, acknowledging the role of the researcher in data interpretation. 

Results: three interconnected themes were identified: (1) Digital Positionality: The Interplay of Social Position, Personal Experience, and Identity; (2) Power Redistribution in Research Relationships: Navigating Vulnerability and Agency; (3) Trust Assemblages: How Intersecting Identities Shape Multi-modal Verification Practices in Research Engagement. These themes illustrate how intersecting identity factors and social contexts shape engagement with digital methods in health research. The first theme revealed how factors such as age, social role, migration, and socioeconomic status create pathways towards or away from engagement with digital methods. The second theme highlights how different digital methods can shift power dynamics in participant-research relationships or expose social vulnerabilities. The third theme uncovered the complex ways participants established trust in research, relying on multi-channel trust makers. 

Conclusions: the study reveals intersecting factors shaping participant engagement with digital methods, offering insights to enhance research conduct and increase diversity in health research participation. Future studies should integrate theoretical frameworks to examine these influencers and develop effective approaches for optimising diverse engagement with digital methods.

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