Practices for collecting, analyzing and disseminating data on health and its social determinants among Black populations in Quebec: a scoping review.

Abstract

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the deficiencies in healthcare systems both within and outside of Canada, affecting racialized populations, particularly Black communities, who face an increased risk of infection and mortality from the disease. Although Black populations in Quebec make up more than 25% of the Black population in Canada, detailed data on the impact of COVID-19 on these communities are only available at the national level. This scoping review documents the methods and issues related to the collection, analysis and dissemination of data on the health of Black populations in Quebec, and its social determinants.

Methods: We conducted a review of studies published in English and French from January 2010 to June 2024 by consulting six databases. This review exclusively comprised studies involving data collection from racialized populations, including Black populations in Quebec, and excluded Canada-wide studies involving only a subsample of Black populations in Quebec. The main keywords used were: "data on race", "ethnic data collection", "race data collection", "culturally appropriate", "health", "survey", "questionnaire", "racial groups", "racialized groups", "Black and minority ethnic people", "people of colour", "migrants", "Quebec", "collecte de données", "minorité", "noir" and "ethnicité".

Results: We selected 43 studies covering four sectors: health, social services, education and employment. We identified the main issues, methods and strategies used to recruit members of Black communities and to collect and analyze data according to ethnoracial categories while minimizing bias to better understand the sociocultural and socioeconomic context of the target populations.

Conclusion: Our review highlights the importance of collecting data on racialized groups, particularly Black communities in Quebec, to support public policies aimed at promoting health equity.