Stakeholder-Engaged Research: Examples From Aphasia

Abstract

When the people who are affected by research help plan, execute, and disseminate the research, then the research is more meaningful and efficient (Slattery et al., 2020). Research collaborations between researchers and other stakeholders such as clinicians, patients, or family members are happening more frequently across health disciplines. When a communication disability is present, the strategies, tools, and working relationships among collaborators take on a unique challenge. This issue highlights the work of researchers collaborating with people with aphasia, their clinicians, and their family members to produce meaningful and useful research products.Stakeholder-engaged research (SER) is an umbrella term that includes a variety of research approaches and methods that have in common the active engagement and collaboration of people who are affected by the research outcomes (Forsythe et al, 2019). Defining characteristics of SER include the identification of appropriate stakeholders, successful engagement strategies, stakeholders' commitment to the Project BRIDGE was funded by two Eugene Washington PCORI (Patient-