Project Area: Health policy and systems research
Project Summary
Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) is increasingly recognized as an essential component of health research. PPI can be defined as ‘research being carried out ‘with’ or ‘by’ members of the public rather than ‘to’ ‘about’ or ‘for’ them’ (1).
In Ireland, the national PPI Ignite Network was established in 2021. Funded by the Health Research Board and the Irish Research Council and seven higher education institutions, it aims to promote excellence and inspire innovation in public and patient involvement (PPI) in health and social care research in Ireland (2).
Despite the recent changing environment of PPI and the potential for PPI to have a positive impact, progress to achieve greater involvement has been described as ‘patchy and slow’ (3). There is significant variation in the way PPI contributors are involved, and it is often limited to some stages of the research cycle and not others (4). Current PPI literature tends to focus on researchers’ experiences and perspectives of the PPI process (5,6,7) and there is a dearth of evidence on PPI contributors’ perspectives.
This project will employ a mixed methods approach to explore the barriers and enablers for PPI contributors to become actively involved in research and co-develop novel approaches to facilitating meaningful PPI. To assist the translation of knowledge into sustainable, evidence-based interventions, the project will be directed by the Knowledge to Action (KTA) framework. PPI will be a strong focus of the project and a PPI group will be established at the outset of the project and will be involved in all stages of the research process.
The project will consist of:
1) A systematic review and qualitative evidence synthesis of PPI contributors experiences of being involved in health and social care research
2) A national PPI contributor survey to understand the perspectives of being involved in health and social care research in Ireland
3) A qualitative study of PPI contributors’ perspectives of the barriers and enablers to meaningful PPI
4) The co-production of training and guidance resources for PPI contributors to become meaningfully involved in health and social care research.
Skills Required
(If applying for this project you will be asked to outline how you meet the skills required below)
Essential skills
- Third Level Qualification (or equivalent) in health or social science discipline
- Strong knowledge of and commitment to PPI, co-production and/or participatory health research
- Strong team working skills as well as ability to work on own initiative
Desirable Skills
- Experience in PPI, co-production and/or participatory research approaches
- Excellent facilitation skills
- Excellent administration, organisation and planning skills;
- Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to develop and maintain constructive relationships with people with lived experience, family members/supporters and other key partners and stakeholders
Supervisory team:
Prof Patricia Kearney, PI/Primary Supervisor,
Professor of Epidemiology and Co-PI of PPI Ignite Network@ UCC, School of Public Health, UCC
Dr Carol Kelleher, Senior Lecturer in Service Design and Co-PI of PPI Ignite Network@ UCC, Cork University Business School, UCC
Dr Emmy Racine, Programme Manager, PPI Ignite Network@ UCC
This project will be based in University College Cork
