Background: Certain groups are commonly under-served by health research due to exclusionary models of research design/delivery. Working in partnership with under-served groups is key to improving inclusion. This project aimed to explore the use of a knowledge mobilisation approach to start building partnerships with under-served groups based on trust and mutual understanding.
Methods: This co-produced public involvement project employed a knowledge mobilisation approach. The project team involved public contributors from four community organisations and staff from two Universities. A series of 'community conversations' were co-produced. These involved open discussions with local people in community settings. The conversations provide an informal space to engage in a multi-directional dialogue about health research and incorporated approaches such as prompt questions, live illustrations, and themed boards. The findings were reviewed collectively. Dissemination/feedback activities and lessons learned for future engagement with community organisations and under-served groups were also co-produced.
Results: Over 100 people attended the community conversations. Attendees varied widely in their sociodemographic characteristics (e.g., socioeconomic status and ethnicity) and brought diverse lived experiences (e.g., experiences of homelessness and disability). A strong appetite for change and desire to mobilise public knowledge were evident. Attendees reported wide-ranging barriers to inclusion in health research and suggested ways to address them. Three inter-related take-home messages were identified: ensure relevance, appreciation, and trust; prioritise language and accessibility needs; and maximise flexibility in all research-related activities. Feedback about the community conversations and dissemination activities was largely positive, with all parties planning to continue the partnership building. The lessons learned provide practical suggestions for promoting inclusion in research and highlight the importance of addressing research teams' training/support needs.
Conclusions: Knowledge mobilisation was a valuable approach for facilitating multi-directional dialogues and relationship building between local communities and university teams. This approach enabled co-creation of new knowledge related to inclusion and partnership working in health research. The project has provided a firm foundation to build upon. However, creating sustainable, inclusive public partnerships is likely to require systemic changes, such as weighting of fundings schemes to projects that prioritise inclusion of under-served groups throughout the research cycle.
Keywords: Co-production; Community conversations; Community engagement; Inclusion; Knowledge mobilisation; Public involvement; Public partnership; Trust; Under-served groups.
Some groups of people often face barriers to being involved in health research. Researchers need to get better at working with these under-served groups so that the groups’ voices contribute to research, and the groups benefit from research.This project aimed to explore the use of a knowledge mobilisation approach to start building partnerships with under-served groups based on trust and mutual understanding. Knowledge mobilisation involves research teams and people beyond academia sharing what they know with each other. This helps to create new knowledge with practical benefits in the real world.The project team involved people from four community organisations and two universities. Informal conversations with over 100 local people were held in community settings. Prompt questions and other activities were used to encourage people to share their views of health research. The conversations suggested research teams need to: 1. Work with local communities to design research that is relevant to them, show their input is valued, and build trust. 2. Meet people’s language and disability-related needs. 3. Make all research activities as flexible as possible. This project’s lessons learned provide practical examples of how to make research more inclusive and highlight the importance of addressing research teams’ training/support needs.Overall, knowledge mobilisation was a helpful approach for building relationships with under-served groups and working together to create new knowledge. All the groups involved plan to carry on working together. Keeping the partnerships going long term may need wider changes, for example in how research is funded.
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