Collaboration between doctoral researchers and patient research partners: reflections and considerations

Abstract

A key principle of working in collaboration with patient research partners (patients contributing to research projects as team members, rather than as participants) is that they should be equal partners with researchers and health professionals. This presents a challenge in doctoral research, where students are expected to own their research decisions. Consequently, efforts are required to ensure that patient partners’ involvements are not tokenistic. This case study brings together the reflections of a recently completed doctoral student and a patient partner, who was part of the doctoral supervisory team. It discusses the role that the patient partner took during the doctorate and the activities in which he was involved. Both the researcher and the patient partner reflect on their expectations and experiences of collaboration. These reflections include factors that facilitated good working practices, the process of building rapport, and the benefits each got out of their collaboration. The interactions exploring ‘the dance of academia’ (the processes that were formally part of the PhD process or the aspects of academic work that were not directly related to completing the research) required recognition. Open, ongoing communication and practical considerations to support the patient partner were key to establishing a strong working relationship, and to determining what a meaningful contribution looked like at each stage of the process. Working with a patient partner as a doctoral student adds value to the doctoral process, and it is a vital opportunity to develop good practice as a researcher.

Public and Patient Involvement in Doctoral Research During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Reflections on the Process, Challenges, Impact and Experiences From the Perspectives of Adults With Cerebral Palsy and the Doctoral Researcher

“…This was managed by an open and honest discussion about the timelines from the outset, which in turn helped collaborative working toward those timelines. Similar to previous reports (6)(7)(8)(9)(10), the experience from our PPI contributors was positive: they felt valued, listened to, empowered and motivated to be involved.…”

“…Involvement should be a collaborative journey with adequate funding, training, time and additional staff to coordinate, facilitate and build a trusted relationship between public contributors and researchers (4,5). Involvement in doctoral research was reported to enhance doctoral researcher's confidence and credibility of research, improve study progression, recruitment, analysis, relevance or quality of research, implementation and dissemination of findings (6)(7)(8)(9)(10). However, PPI in the doctoral research process can be challenging for researchers who often have limited funding, resources, and time to conduct meetings or build relationships.…”

“…Recent articles have described the experiences of embedding PPI in doctoral research, from designing research to dissemination (6)(7)(8)(9)(10). These are useful as they help doctoral researchers understand the process of involvement and consider the resources and time required for involvement activities.…”

Un-Labelling the Language

“…Although The Lawnmowers have reviewed our words, the contents may not fully represent their views. Jones and Hunt (2022), in their co-authored paper by a researcher and patient partner, reflect on "the dance of academia" (p.5) when collaborating throughout Jones' PhD. They refer to the carefully negotiated roles within co-production relationships in healthcare research as being like parts of a dance, some steps you observe, some you learn, and others you don't.…”

Consumer engagement in doctoral research – what difference does it make?

“…Research context is important for consumer engagement planning and evaluation because it helps establish how consumer engagement can be achieved [ 1 , 6 ]. The context of doctoral research creates unique challenges for consumer engagement, including a responsibility to complete an independent body of work, limited agency in the research topic, time, funds, and/or no prior consumer engagement experience [ 16 – 19 ]. Despite these challenges, consumer engagement in doctoral research can add value when planned early, with clear aims, and by being flexible to circumstances [ 16 – 20 ].…”