Abstract
Introduction
Covid-19 expanded the use of remote working to engage with public contributors in health and social care research. These changes have the potential to limit the ability to participate in PPIE for some public contributors. It is therefore important to understand public contributors’ preferences, so that remote working can be organised in an optimal way to encourage rather than discourage participation.
Methods
We use an economic preference elicitation tool, a Discrete Choice Experiment
(DCE), via an online survey, to estimate public contributors’ preferences for and
trade-offs between different features of remote meetings. The features were
informed by previous research to include aspects of remote meetings that were
relevant to public contributors and amenable to change by PPIE organisers.
Results
We found that public contributors are more likely to participate in a PPIE project
involving remote meetings if: they are given feedback about participation; allowed to switch their camera off during meetings and step away if/when needed; were under 2.5 hours long; organised during working hours; and are chaired by a moderator who can ensure that everyone contributes. Different combination of these features can cause estimated project participation to range from 23% to 94%. When planning PPIE and engaging public contributors, we suggest that resources are focused on training for moderators and ensuring public contributors receive meeting feedback.
Discussion and Conclusion
Project resources should be allocated to maximise project participation. We provide recommendations for those who work in public involvement and organise meetings on how resources, such as time and financial support, should be allocated. These are based on the preferences of existing public contributors who have been involved in health and social care research.
Covid-19 expanded the use of remote working to engage with public contributors in health and social care research. These changes have the potential to limit the ability to participate in PPIE for some public contributors. It is therefore important to understand public contributors’ preferences, so that remote working can be organised in an optimal way to encourage rather than discourage participation.
Methods
We use an economic preference elicitation tool, a Discrete Choice Experiment
(DCE), via an online survey, to estimate public contributors’ preferences for and
trade-offs between different features of remote meetings. The features were
informed by previous research to include aspects of remote meetings that were
relevant to public contributors and amenable to change by PPIE organisers.
Results
We found that public contributors are more likely to participate in a PPIE project
involving remote meetings if: they are given feedback about participation; allowed to switch their camera off during meetings and step away if/when needed; were under 2.5 hours long; organised during working hours; and are chaired by a moderator who can ensure that everyone contributes. Different combination of these features can cause estimated project participation to range from 23% to 94%. When planning PPIE and engaging public contributors, we suggest that resources are focused on training for moderators and ensuring public contributors receive meeting feedback.
Discussion and Conclusion
Project resources should be allocated to maximise project participation. We provide recommendations for those who work in public involvement and organise meetings on how resources, such as time and financial support, should be allocated. These are based on the preferences of existing public contributors who have been involved in health and social care research.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 146-159 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| Journal | Health Expectations |
| Volume | 26 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Early online date | 6 Nov 2022 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Feb 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding informationNIHR ARC North West Coast
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We want to thank the public contributors who helped design this study and took part in the DCE survey. This research is supported by the National Institute for Health Research Applied Research Collaboration North West Coast (ARC NWC). The Health Economics Research Unit is supported by the Chief Scientist Office (CSO), which is part of the Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates. The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the National Institute for Health Research, the Department of Health and Social Care or the CSO.
Keywords
- Covid-19
- Preference
- public contributors
- public participation
- remote and rural placements