The Sant Pau Research Institute, together with the Catalan Health Quality and Assessment Agency (AQUAS) of the Department of Health and eight research institutions in Catalonia, have developed the guide Recommendations for Inclusive Communication in Health Research, to promote the inclusion of language that fosters visibility, equality, and representation of all people and to avoid situations where language might contain words or forms that render people invisible or discriminate against them.
This tool – which has been developed in both Catalan and English – contains recommendations applicable to written, oral, and visual communication to serve as a support tool for inclusive communication in health research institutions, complementing official linguistic guides and institutional style manuals.
The guide presents examples and strategies of preferable and not recommended uses, with the aim of demonstrating practical application and providing resources, raising awareness, and contributing to the full, respectful, and non-discriminatory inclusion of any group. As noted by the authors, the document contains examples not only on gender treatment but also in other areas such as communicative treatment of disabilities, diseases, and cultural groups.
At the same time, an infographic with key messages has been presented to offer a more accessible resource. Both documents are aimed at scientific and administrative staff of these institutions, as well as their management, research system personnel, journalists, and other interested parties. The objective is to offer simple and direct recommendations visually to explain and disseminate research in an inclusive manner, as well as specific advice in different formats and in two languages.
These publications have been developed within the framework of the Hipatia Community, which works for the updating of management policies and practices, the elimination of unconscious bias, and the promotion of cultural change, as well as the incorporation of the sex and gender perspective in research. Specifically, for this initiative, a working group has been created coordinated by AQUAS and made up of professionals from the Girona Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBGI), the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP), the Josep Carreras Leukemia Research Institute (IJC), the Hospital del Mar Research Institute (IMIM), the Barcelona Biomedical Research Institute (IRB Barcelona), the Lleida Biomedical Research Institute (IRB Lleida), the Sant Pau Research Institute (IR Sant Pau), the Parc Taulí Research and Innovation Institute (I3PT), and the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO). The guide also benefited from the linguistic advice of the Linguistic Planning Service of the Department of Health. The graphic design of these materials was carried out by the social communication agency La Sembra.
Check the guide and all the materials through this link.
