Co-designing strategies to support patient partners during a scoping review and reflections on the process: a commentary

Abstract

Plain English summary Patients have taken on roles as members of research teams, often involved in a wide range of activities, such as members of advisory committees. Despite these important new roles for patients, broadly, researchers are still challenged with identifying opportunities of benefit to all involved. We describe the involvement of four patient partners who worked with researchers to complete a scoping review. We detail the approaches used to support the project and the benefits and challenges we experienced while involving patients in this review. Co-designing engagement approaches assisted in gaining the support and buy-in necessary from patient partners for the successful completion of this scoping review. Involving patients partners early in the project established the foundational relationship for patient partners to contribute to their fullest. We witnessed the success of working alongside patient partners as members of the research team with a clear and mutually agreed upon purpose of the engagement in health research activities and how this seemed to contribute to an effective and rewarding experience for both researchers and patient partners.

Keywords

• Patient and public involvement
• Co-production
• Patient engagement
• Scoping review