Working Towards the Promise of Participatory Action Research: Learning From Ageing Research Exemplars

Abstract

Within research addressing issues of social justice, there is a growing uptake of participatory action research (PAR) approaches that are ideally committed to equitable participation of community members in all phases of the research process in order to collaboratively enact social transformation. However, the utilization of such approaches has not always matched the ideal, with inconsistencies in how participation and action are incorporated. "Participation" within various research processes is displayed differently, with the involvement of community members varying from full participation to their involvement as simply participants for data collection. Similarly, "action" is varyingly enacted from researchers proposing research implications for policy and practice to the meaningful involvement of community members in facilitating social change. This inconsistency in how PAR is utilized, despite widespread publications outlining key principles and central tenets, suggests there are challenges preventing researchers from fully embracing and enacting the central tenets of equitable participation and social transformation. This article intends to provide one way forward, for scholars intending to more fully enact the central tenets of PAR, through critically discussing how, and to what extent, the principles of PAR were enacted within 14 key exemplars of PAR conducted with older adults. More specifically, we display and discuss key principles for enacting the full commitment of PAR, highlight a critical appraisal guide, critically analyze exemplars, and share strategies that researchers have used to address these commitments. The critical appraisal guide and associated research findings provide useful directions for researchers who desire to more fully embrace commitments and practices commensurate with enacting the promise of PAR for equitable collaboration and social transformation.

What is the qualitative evidence concerning the risks, diagnosis, management and consequences of gastrointestinal infections in the community in the United Kingdom? A systematic review and meta-ethnography

“…The use of lay knowledge around food could be an additional but essential source of expertise for public health professionals looking to find ways to reduce foodborne illness. One way to access this knowledge within the community could be through the use of community participatory research [70,71].…”

How is Respect and Social Inclusion Conceptualised by Older Adults in an Aspiring Age-Friendly City? A Photovoice Study in the North-West of England

“…An interpretivist phenomenological approach guided our study [ 53 ], which focused on identifying meanings and perceptions that older people had of respect and social inclusion in the urban context. We employed a Photovoice methodology within a Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) approach, focused on participation, action and collaborative investigation [ 54 , 55 ]. Photovoice, a methodology developed by Wang and Burris [ 56 ], involves participants photographing aspects of their lives and communities that are important to them, with group discussions being held to facilitate critical reflection about community strengths and issues [ 57 , 58 ].…”

Participatory action research to pilot a model of mental health service user involvement in an Ethiopian rural primary healthcare setting: study protocol

“…C) PAR also rejects objectivist assumptions that distance the researcher and the participants from one another [121,123]. The close proximity of working can promote inclusion and confront engrained stigma and prejudices [32,120,124]. In line with the contact hypothesis [125] and social contact theory [125,126], positive contact between service-users, health professionals and others within the health system, e.g.…”

“…These drawbacks may be minimized through the emancipatory and critical theoretical foundation of PAR that seeks to explicitly and intentionally work with a range of stakeholders, including those historically oppressed, disempowered, vulnerable and marginalized groups (e.g., service-users) [62,107,112]. The participatory commitment of PAR provides space for diverse forms of expertise and promotes understanding of the different life-worlds of participants [32,87,120]. Working in a collaborative and non-hierarchical manner may facilitate deeper understanding of how implementation can be achieved [56,84,100,112,121].…”

“…One promising approach to address these criticisms is Participatory Action Research (PAR). The PAR approach is highly conducive to enable marginalized people (in this case people with lived experience of mental illness) to be meaningfully involved in areas of concern to them through developing their capacities and address more holistically the complex factors that hinder their involvement [30][31][32]. Our recent systematic review (Abayneh et al, in progress) found that PAR is a well-established approach to involve service-users within mental health systems in highincome countries; however, there are few similar studies from LMICs.…”