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'You Are Kind of Like One of Us': Exploring Researcher Positioning in Studying Community-Based Health Promotion Interventions Among Social Housing Residents of Danish, Turkish and Pakistani Origin.

Abirami Srivarathan
Published in: Qualitative health research (2021)
The practice of qualitative research demands reflexivity throughout the entire research process, with special attention directed towards researcher positioning. In this article, I explore how aspects and characteristics of my social situation positioned me contrary to my expectations regarding researcher positioning. I draw on individual interviews, focus group discussions and field notes about community-based health promotion interventions among residents of Danish, Turkish and Pakistani origin in a deprived social housing area in Denmark. Rather than insider-outsider positioning, the concept represented by the term 'halfie' unfolds the complexity of my researcher positioning: less minority ethnic than the residents of Turkish and Pakistani origin and less Danish than the residents of Danish origin, but similar to both, being a descendant of Sri Lankan Tamil origin brought up in a Danish social housing area. Finally, I present methodological and ethical implications of being a halfie in the context of qualitative health research.
Keyphrases
  • health promotion
  • healthcare
  • mental health
  • mental illness
  • physical activity
  • primary care
  • working memory
  • preterm infants
  • decision making
  • quality improvement