Putting it into Practice

Abstract: This article discusses patient and public involvement in research as well as theories about introducing innovation into healthcare, in order to develop recommendations for involvement in health research dissemination. Theories around introducing innovation focus on the importance of social networks in spreading information about the innovation and encouraging others to adopt it. For this reason, the authors argue it is important to think about dissemination throughout the whole of the research cycle, not as a separate activity just at the end. They recommend that researchers develop productive relationships with patients and the public right from the beginning of a project. This not only helps with building the social networks to help disseminate the findings, but also contributes to more effective involvement at later stages. The authors have developed a toolkit to support this work. The toolkit consists of a series of questions to address at each stage of the research cycle, with the aim of helping researchers to establish relationships with patients and the public, and plan their involvement in dissemination. They suggest that taking this approach will extend the reach and impact of research findings.

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Categories: journal article
service users and carers
researchers
research commissioners
relevant to all service users
guidance/guidelines
writing up and disseminating
General guidance on involving the public in research

Date Entered: 2015/07/06

Date Edited: 2015/07/06