Collaborative Research Priority Setting for Enhancing Primary Health Care Access Among the Nepalese Community in Canada: Community-Based Participatory Research

Background: Research concerning potential resolutions to immigrants’ health care access in Canada is limited, and the viewpoint of immigrant communities regarding priorities and feasible solutions remains inadequately captured. The objective of this article is to portray a research endeavor in which grassroots community members assumed the role of priority-setters for research on primary care access concerns. Aim: This cross-sectional study aimed to identify community-prioritized primary care access research topics among Nepalese Canadian immigrants in Calgary by ranking ten predefined issues based on perceived importance. Methods: We conducted community-based participatory research (CBPR) with the Nepalese community members in Canada. Participants were recruited using snowball sampling through community networks and rated topics using a 5-point Likert scale. A self-administered survey was used to collect participants’ rankings of ten predefined primary care access challenge themes. The themes were identified through comprehensive literature reviews undertaken by the research program team. The questionnaire was pilot-tested and refined based on feedback from team members before being administered. Results: A total of 401 Nepalese immigrants completed the survey, with 50.4% self-identifying as men. Among survey participants, significant gender differences were observed in sociodemographic characteristics, including age distribution, educational attainment, extended health insurance coverage, household income, and length of stay in Canada. Overall, health care cost and lack of resources were identified as the highest research priorities. While both men and women ranked these issues highly, women assigned greater priority to transportation- and culture-related barriers, whereas men generally assigned lower priority to these issues. Conclusions: There is a growing recognition that health solution priority-setting approaches should embrace transdisciplinary collaboration, with community participation as a pivotal factor. The results underscore the value of transdisciplinary, collaborative priority-setting approaches that center community participation to inform health research and interventions aligned with the needs of immigrant communities.