Research – co-producing research

Co-producing resources and guidance for sharing power in research (June 2018 – February 2019)

The aim of Phase 1 of the project was to develop resources to help people share power more effectively when co-producing research. We facilitated two workshops with Gary Hickey, NIHR INVOLVE. Twelve public contributors, three community organisations / healthcare staff and seven researchers took part Public contributors were offered payment to ensure equity. All participants had experience of co-produced research and were therefore able to share their experiences and insights in to the co-production process. We discussed the principles of co-production, looked at existing resources and tried out different techniques.

The resulting open access resource list will, we hope, continue to grow.

Co-developing training and resources for sharing power in co-produced research (February 2019 – Autumn 2019)

Phase 2 of the project is a partnership between five researchers and two public contributors. Our aim is to co-develop training and resources to enable people to co-produce research. The outputs will include

• a training course
• open access resources
• self-reflective questions: how we can share/use personal power.

Keywords: co-production, sharing power in research, resources, guidance, training

Resource list (ongoing): https://clahrc-west.nihr.ac.uk/patient-and-public-involvement/co-producing-research-resources-and-toolkit-list/

Contributed by:

Phase 1
Michelle Farr – NIHR CLAHRC West, Bristol University
Rosie Davies – University of the West of England
Nick Leggett – public contributor

Phase 2:
Michelle Farr – NIHR CLAHRC West, Bristol University
Phillipa Davies – NIHR CLAHRC West, Bristol University
Emer Brangan – NIHR CLAHRC West, Bristol University
Jo Kesten – NIHR CLAHRC West, Bristol University
Rosie Davies – University of the West of England
Heidi Andrews – public contributor
Darren Bagnall – public contributor

Reach West: facilitating participation in research by patients and the public (ongoing)

It is often difficult for researchers to find suitable people for research studies, even for common conditions, and many people would participate in research if they knew a suitable study was available. The aim of Reach West is to bridge this gap by matching interested people to high quality research projects. This greatly reduces the time it takes to carry out research studies and to bring new treatments into routine use.

Reach West will provide a safe and secure way for people interested in research to find out about NHS and university approved health research projects that are relevant to them. Individuals will give prospective consent to be re-contacted about research for which they may be eligible. This includes providing consent for medical record linkage in order to identify suitable potential participants.

Keywords: patient participation, research register, health research, prospective consent

Project overview: https://clahrc-west.nihr.ac.uk/research/projects/reach-west-facilitating-participation-in-research-by-patients-and-the-public/

Related publications:

Research participation registers can increase opportunities for patients and the public to participate in health services research, Journal of Health Services Research & Policy, 2019, Verity Leach, Sabi Redwood, Gemma Lasseter et al

How to incorporate patient and public perspectives into the design and conduct of research, 18 June 2018, Pat Hoddinott, Alex Pollock, Alicia O’Cathain, Isabel Boyer, Jane Taylor, Chris MacDonald, Sandy Oliver, Jenny L. Donovan

Contributed by: Sabi Redwood, Ruta Margelyte – NIHR CLAHRC West, Bristol University

Outside the Original Remit: Co‐production in UK mental health research, lessons from the field

International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 2018

The aim of this discursive paper was to explore the development of co-production and service user involvement in UK university-based mental health research and to offer practical recommendations for practitioners co-producing research with service users and survivors. The paper was informed by an overview of the key literature on co-production in mental health and from a critical reflection on applied research through the medium of a case study. The authors argue that the implications of co-production for mental health research remain underexplored, but that both the practitioner and service user/survivor researcher experience and perspective of co-production in research can provide practical reflections to inform developing research practice. The theories and values of emancipatory research can provide a framework from which both practitioners and service users can work together on a research project, in a way that requires reflection on process and power dynamics. The authors conclude that whilst co-produced investigations can offer unique opportunities for advancing emancipatory and applied research in mental health, practitioner researchers need to be more radical in their consideration of power in the research process.

Contributed by: Nicky Lambert – Middlesex University Centre for Co-production of Mental Health Research, Sarah Carr – Birmingham University