Hakima Ouaarab, nurse at the Centre for International Health and Infectious Diseases Drassanes-Vall d'Hebron and researcher of the Infectious Diseases group of Vall d'Hebron Research, and her team have won the first prize of the XXIII edition of the awards of the journal Metas de Enfermería for carrying out the COCREA SASI project on affective-sexual health that aims to provide an intercultural perspective through participatory research in conjunction with vulnerable groups.

The study was led by Hakima Ouaarab, Dolores Rodríguez and Jordi Gómez, from the Public and Community Health Team (ESPIC) of the Drassanes-Vall d'Hebron International Health Unit; Laia Nebot, from the Catalan Health Service; Paula Premiquel-Trillas, from the Infections and Cancer Unit of the Cancer Epidemiology Research Program of the Catalan Institute of Oncology; and Elia Díez, from the Barcelona Public Health Agency. In addition, the project has had a driving group with representatives of the Department of Health of the general subdirectorate of health promotion, ASSIR right of the territorial management of Barcelona (ICS), the Association of sexual and reproductive rights and intercultural association dialogues of women and immigrant women active in the community.   

About the project

The study was developed in three phases; in the first phase, the Research-Action-Participatory-Action-Motor Group (GIAP) was constituted with different profiles of professionals and civil society and a follow-up commission, which ensured that the objectives were met throughout the process. In the second stage, field work was carried out on the basis of Discussion Groups (DG), to capture different socially constituted discourses marked by cultural, religious, gender and marital status issues. Due to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, virtual and face-to-face sessions were offered, reducing the number of participants between 3 and 6 per group and including individual interviews. Recruitment of participants was done through community health workers (CHWs) of different nationalities and cultures from the ESPIC team. Finally, in the third stage, the results report presented to the award was prepared after reflection, narrative analysis and triangulation of the information with the members of the monitoring committee and the focus group leaders to ensure the reliability of the results. 

The results show that, thanks to the participatory research methodology, it was possible to connect organized and unorganized civil society, professionals and the public administration working together in the driving group. And that the focus groups based on scientific dialogue allowed the understanding of SAS in the daily life of the immigrant population, especially women. The study has seen its relationship with the culture of origin, age, gender, marital status, family, religion and education. It also showed the existence of accessibility barriers regardless of the time of residence in the country and the lack of interactive tools to promote SAS in community spaces (homes, schools, civic centers, associations, etc.).

"Our project puts the person and the community at the center of the system, brings a look beyond the health center, oriented to participatory health promotion where the community acts and participates in decision making. It has identified necessary elements and concrete proposals in a participatory way to design educational tools that allow the promotion of SAS among immigrant women from an intercultural and gender perspective", explains Hakima Ouaarab.

About Metas de Enfermería and the award

Metas de Enfermería is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that aims to contribute knowledge on the state of current nursing practice, as well as to provide information that serves as a basis for training and continuing education especially for clinical nurses.

The award includes a free annual subscription to Enferteca, the largest general library on Nursing, which will allow Ouaarab and his team to have unlimited and free access to a wealth of content on the subject that will help them during their study and the development of the project, which will further benefit not only the team but also patients and families.