Actualizing community–academic partnerships in research: a case study on rural perinatal peer support

Abstract

Plain English summary Co-production is an approach to research where community partners and academic researchers work together to carry out a study. Our co-production team was made up of a community partner with lived experience of accessing mental health supports in rural areas, and academic researchers experienced in health systems design. Co-production emphasizes both the wisdom of lived experience and the importance of scientific approaches. What emerges is research that is both rigorous and authentic. While this form of patient partner research involvement is growing, few studies describe the process of collaboration. To address this gap, we present a case study of how university researchers worked with a patient partner on a project about mental health services for childbearing people in rural communities. The team worked together at every step, from initial study design, to reaching out to participants, reviewing the data, and writing the paper. We agreed our approach would be guided by principles such as respect for all viewpoints, speaking truth, attention to the process, and ensuring that everyone’s contributions were given equal weight. The academic researchers and the community partner identified many common themes in the data. The community partner also emphasized patient experiences of unequal treatment by health care providers. The academic researchers focused on the lack of access to perinatal mental health supports. Exploring differences in perspectives like this allowed for richer interpretation of the findings. This case study offers useful insight into the value of co-production and the important role of lived experience in improving health systems.

Keywords

• Collaborative research
• Patient partner involvement
• Co-production
• Perinatal
• Mental health
• Rural