Cross-cutting theme lead: Ilina Singh

What do we mean by Involvement?

Patients, carers and members of the public being active partners in the research process.
Examples of involvement include:

• helping select research that is important and relevant
• helping researchers design their projects
• helping develop understandable information sheets for people taking part in research
• joining a research management or advisory group
• training to carry out some of the research (for example interviews)
• helping interpret the results of the research
• helping make sure the research is reported in understandable ways
• helping make sure good research is heard about. Patient and public involvement in research by healthtalk.org

Research being carried out ‘with’ or ‘by’ members of the public rather than ‘to’, ‘about’ or ‘for’ them.”
– INVOLVE

Why?

We think involvement can help develop research that responds better to the needs and interests of patients, carers and researchers than that developed by researchers alone. Researchers may not have first-hand experience of the illness they are researching, involvement can provide them with important insights. No matter how complicated the research, or how brilliant the researcher, patients and the public always offer unique, invaluable insights. Their advice when designing, implementing and evaluating research invariably makes studies more effective, more credible and often more cost efficient as well.” Professor Dame Sally Davies Chief Medical Officer

Involvement can improve the quality of research by:

• helping select research that is important and relevant
• making the language of research materials more accessible
• making sure the research process is sensitive and acceptable to potential participants
• helping choose outcomes that are important to the public

These factors may also lead an increase participation in research.

How?

Our aim is to provide a structure for involving patients, carers and the public in our mental health research, here in Oxford and more broadly across the UK. We are supported by our colleagues at the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust NIHR Biomedical Research Centre (OUH BRC). Most importantly we will be guided by our Patients and Research (PAR) group.