What is the purpose of this project?

The purpose of this project was to work with Patient and Public Research Partners to gain insight into how to engage and orient older adults into Patient and Public Research Partner roles in research teams.

Who was part of the project?

The Aging, Community and Health Research team at McMaster University collaborated with Patient and Public Research Partners in 2018-2019. This was done to explore existing resources to orient Patient and Public Research Partners to research, find the gaps, and co-design new tools to fill these gaps. Our Patient and Public Research Partners did not have any previous experience in partnering with researchers.

How was this done?

First, a search of web-based online resources about patient and public engagement in research and training materials was done. Patient and Public Research Partners reviewed these resources and found many gaps in the foundational information needed to find research partners and orient them to potential research team roles, and the research process.

After this was completed, the Patient and Public Research Partners took part in co-designing new materials to support training older adults, caregivers, and public partners in health and social care research. To make sure these materials met their needs, the Patient and Public Research Partners worked together with the research team to review and edit the materials over several sessions.

What were the results?

The results of this process was the creation of 6 electronic and hard-copy pamphlets, now publicly available on the Aging, Community and Health Research Unit’s website. Pamphlets address the following topics: a) how older adults can partner with researchers, b) what constitutes health and social care research, and c) how older adult research partners can inform the development of a research plan, data collection, data analysis, and how research findings are shared.

These pamphlets describe the meaningful and collaborative roles that Patient and Public Research Partners can take part in during the research process. In addition, an archive of other relevant web-based resources, organized by stages of the research process, was created as part of this online toolkit.

Who funded this project?

This work is generously supported by the Labarge Foundation, and part of a program of research at the Aging, Community and Health Research Unit.

Learn more about this project:

We need you! Get involved as a Patient and Public Research Partner

An overview of health and social care research

Developing the research plan

Collecting data

Analyzing data

Sharing findings