PMID- 34600593 OWN - NLM STAT- PubMed-not-MEDLINE LR - 20231107 IS - 2056-7529 (Electronic) IS - 2056-7529 (Linking) VI - 7 IP - 1 DP - 2021 Oct 2 TI - The voices of lived experience: reflections from citizen team members in a long-term care research program. PG - 69 LID - 10.1186/s40900-021-00312-y [doi] LID - 69 AB - BACKGROUND: The Translating Research in Elder Care (TREC) program is a partnered health services research team that aims to improve the quality of care and quality of life for residents and quality of worklife for staff in nursing homes. The TREC team undertook several activities to enhance the collaboration between the academic researchers and us, the citizen members. Known as VOICES (Voice Of (potential) Incoming residents, Caregivers Educating uS) we aim to share our experience working with a large research team. METHODS: We reflect on the findings reported in the paper by Chamberlain et al. (2021). They described the findings from two surveys (May 2018, July 2019) that were completed by TREC team members (researchers, trainees, staff, decision-makers, citizens). The survey questions asked about the respondents' experience with citizen engagement, their perceptions of the benefits and challenges of citizen engagement, and their unmet needs for training. RESULTS: The paper reported on the survey findings from all the survey respondents (research team, decision-makers, citizens), but much of the results focused on the researcher perspective. They reported that respondents believed that citizen engagement was a benefit to their research but noted many challenges. While we appreciate the researchers' positive perceptions of citizen engagement, much work remains to fully integrate us into all stages of the research. We offer our reflections and suggestions for how to work with citizen members and identify areas for more training and support. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the increased interest in citizen engagement, we feel there is a lack of understanding and support to truly integrate non-academic team members on research teams. We hope the discussion in this commentary identifies specific areas that need to be addressed to support the continued engagement of citizens and show how the lived experience can bring value to research teams. CI - (c) 2021. The Author(s). FAU - Mann, Jim AU - Mann J AD - Translating Research in Elder Care (TREC) Research Program, Level 3, Edmonton Clinic Health Academy, Faculty of Nursing, Voices Of (potential) Incoming residents, Caregivers Educating uS (VOICES), University of Alberta, 11405 87 Ave, Edmonton, AB, T6G 1C9, Canada. cbsl@telus.net. FAU - Bishop, Roberta AU - Bishop R AD - Translating Research in Elder Care (TREC) Research Program, Level 3, Edmonton Clinic Health Academy, Faculty of Nursing, Voices Of (potential) Incoming residents, Caregivers Educating uS (VOICES), University of Alberta, 11405 87 Ave, Edmonton, AB, T6G 1C9, Canada. FAU - Bond, Graham AU - Bond G AD - Translating Research in Elder Care (TREC) Research Program, Level 3, Edmonton Clinic Health Academy, Faculty of Nursing, Voices Of (potential) Incoming residents, Caregivers Educating uS (VOICES), University of Alberta, 11405 87 Ave, Edmonton, AB, T6G 1C9, Canada. FAU - Forbes, Faye AU - Forbes F AD - Translating Research in Elder Care (TREC) Research Program, Level 3, Edmonton Clinic Health Academy, Faculty of Nursing, Voices Of (potential) Incoming residents, Caregivers Educating uS (VOICES), University of Alberta, 11405 87 Ave, Edmonton, AB, T6G 1C9, Canada. FAU - Kieloch, Barbara AU - Kieloch B AD - Translating Research in Elder Care (TREC) Research Program, Level 3, Edmonton Clinic Health Academy, Faculty of Nursing, Voices Of (potential) Incoming residents, Caregivers Educating uS (VOICES), University of Alberta, 11405 87 Ave, Edmonton, AB, T6G 1C9, Canada. FAU - Thelker, Christine AU - Thelker C AD - Translating Research in Elder Care (TREC) Research Program, Level 3, Edmonton Clinic Health Academy, Faculty of Nursing, Voices Of (potential) Incoming residents, Caregivers Educating uS (VOICES), University of Alberta, 11405 87 Ave, Edmonton, AB, T6G 1C9, Canada. FAU - Chamberlain, Stephanie A AU - Chamberlain SA AUID- ORCID: 0000-0001-9602-3060 AD - Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta, 6-50 University Terrace, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2T4, Canada. LA - eng PT - Letter DEP - 20211002 PL - England TA - Res Involv Engagem JT - Research involvement and engagement JID - 101708164 PMC - PMC8487564 OAB - Engaging people with lived experience on research teams is becoming more of an expectation for researchers. Published research on this type of engaged research often focuses on the researcher experience with partnered research and neglects the citizen perspective. We are the citizen members of the Translating Research in Elder Care (TREC) program of research, a research program focused on older adults living in nursing homes. Known as VOICES (Voice Of (potential) Incoming residents, Caregivers Educating uS) we aim to share our experiences of working within a large research team. In this commentary we reflect on the pitfalls and opportunities for citizen engagement and reflect on findings from a recent paper published by the research team on the experience of citizen engagement over time. OABL- eng OTO - NOTNLM OT - Citizen engagement OT - Engagement science OT - Health services research OT - Patient engagement COIS- The authors declare that they have no competing interests. EDAT- 2021/10/04 06:00 MHDA- 2021/10/04 06:01 PMCR- 2021/10/02 CRDT- 2021/10/03 20:27 PHST- 2021/05/16 00:00 [received] PHST- 2021/09/14 00:00 [accepted] PHST- 2021/10/03 20:27 [entrez] PHST- 2021/10/04 06:00 [pubmed] PHST- 2021/10/04 06:01 [medline] PHST- 2021/10/02 00:00 [pmc-release] AID - 10.1186/s40900-021-00312-y [pii] AID - 312 [pii] AID - 10.1186/s40900-021-00312-y [doi] PST - epublish SO - Res Involv Engagem. 2021 Oct 2;7(1):69. doi: 10.1186/s40900-021-00312-y.