Embracing Pride to enhance LGBTQ+ representation in primary care cancer research

In the UK, 1 in 2 people are diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. Primary care is crucial for cancer detection, with over half of diagnoses made following general practitioner (GP) referral to hospitals. Cancer can effect anyone – the perspectives of all groups/communities should be considered to deliver good quality research and maximise research impact in primary care, but some groups remain under-served. This includes the LGBTQ+ community, where a lack of data collection on sexuality/gender means the applicability of research in this group largely remains unknown and researchers remain unaware of how many LGBTQ+ people they are/are not reaching. We must understand the barriers LGBTQ+ people perceive/experience and offer improved methods for increasing research involvement. This is the goal of this project. The objectives are to: 

• Establish barriers to research involvement in the LGBTQ+ community and methods to overcome them. 

• Raise awareness of the importance of primary care cancer research. 

• Actively encourage LGBTQ+ people to get involved in primary care cancer research. 

• Share our learnings to generalise our approach to other under-served groups and areas of primary care research. 

We will arrange a stall at Pride in London 2025, one of the largest and most diverse Pride festivals in the UK. We will conduct a productive priority-setting exercise under the theme 'what matters to you, maybe we can do something about it', including discussions of their perceptions towards primary care cancer research, methods to increase involvement, and how data on sexuality/gender should be routinely collected. Creative approaches, including interactive games and give-aways, will facilitate this discussion.  

We will use music as an engagement activity – music is important in the LGBTQ+ community, known to bring people together. On our phones, LGBTQ+ people will be asked to record a 3-to-5 second audio clip of a word/emotion/statement reflecting their perceptions towards primary care/research/cancer. After Pride, we will compile clips into a music-piece, summarising attitudes and perceptions towards primary care and cancer research. At Pride, we will keep a list of LGBTQ+ contributors for us to subsequently share the final result with. This will facilitate subsequent contact for research involvement. Our music-piece will be available to the primary care community.  

We will raise awareness of primary care cancer research at Pride by showcasing existing primary care cancer projects, with QR-links to online resources. This will be supplemented by distribution of LGBTQ+-tailored leaflets for people without smartphones. We will create a list of LGBTQ+ people interested in learning more and/or getting involved for subsequent contact.  

We will publish our findings in the Research Involvement and Engagement journal and present at scientific conferences, e.g. the Society of Academic Primary Care (SAPC) conference. Our research team is experienced in conducting engagement and PPIE activities and arranging music. We aim to collaborate with Cancer Research UK and UCL primary care colleagues. 

A 6-month study duration includes hiring the stall (month 1), preparing materials/leaflets (month 1-2), attending Pride and collecting/reviewing findings (month 3), arranging music (month 3-4), and preparing for publication (month 3-6).