title: Partners in projects: preparing for public involvement in health and social care research.
abstract: In recent years, several UK and, international funders of health and social care related research have adopted the policy of requiring explicit evidence of the 'public' voice in all aspects of project design. For many academic researchers engaged within research, evaluations or audit projects, this formal requirement to actively engage members of the public will present them with both benefits and challenges to securing knowledgeable, skilled, and confident lay representation onto project teams. This could potentially lead to the exploitation of those individuals who are available, appropriately informed, and adequately prepared for such activities. Currently, much of the preparation of patients or members of the public for research involvement tends to be aligned to specific projects; however, with the call for greater active and meaningful involvement of lay representatives in future national and international funding applications, there is clearly a growing need to 'train' sufficient numbers of confident and competent representatives to meet this growing demand. This paper describes the development of a specifically designed research awareness training programme and underpinning theoretical model, which has been specifically designed to support active and meaningful lay involvement in research, evaluations and audit projects. Developed over a four year period, the course is a culmination of learning extracted from a series of four completed research projects, which have incorporated an element of public and patient involvement (PPI) training in their overall design.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Health and Wellbeing, The University of Northampton, Boughton Green Road, Northampton NN2 7AL, United Kingdom. Electronic address: jackie.parkes@northampton.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Jacqueline H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Parkes
authors.affiliation: Institute for Health and Wellbeing, The University of Northampton, Boughton Green Road, Northampton NN2 7AL, United Kingdom. Electronic address: michelle.pyer@northampton.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pyer
authors.affiliation: NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care, (CLAHRC) East Midlands, Room 3, Academic Unit, Leicester General Hospital, Gwendolen Road, Leicester LE5 4PW, United Kingdom. Electronic address: paw30@le.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Paula
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wray
authors.affiliation: Institute for Health and Wellbeing, The University of Northampton, Boughton Green Road, Northampton NN2 7AL, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Taylor
mesh_terms: D003256:Community Participation; D006302:Health Services Research / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D057766:Policy; D012108:Research Personnel; D012109:Research Support as Topic; D006113:United Kingdom
keywords: Health research; Public involvement; Training model