PMID- 34627403 OWN - NLM STAT- PubMed-not-MEDLINE LR - 20211022 IS - 2056-7529 (Electronic) IS - 2056-7529 (Linking) VI - 7 IP - 1 DP - 2021 Oct 9 TI - Evolving partnerships: engagement methods in an established health services research team. PG - 71 LID - 10.1186/s40900-021-00314-w [doi] LID - 71 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. This team includes academic researchers, trainees, research staff, citizens (persons living with dementia and family/friend caregivers of persons living in nursing homes), and decision-makers (ministries of health, health authorities, operators of nursing homes). The TREC team has experience working with health system partners but wanted to undertake activities to enhance the collaboration between the academic researchers and citizen members. The aim of this paper is to describe the TREC team members' experiences and perceptions of citizen engagement and identify necessary supports to promote meaningful engagement in health research teams. METHODS: We administered two online surveys (May 2018, July 2019) to all TREC team members (researchers, trainees, staff, decision-makers, citizens). The surveys included closed and open-ended questions guided by regional and international measures of engagement and related to respondents' experience with citizen engagement, their perceptions of the benefits and challenges of citizen engagement, and their needs for training and other tools to support engagement. We analyzed the closed-ended responses using descriptive statistics. RESULTS: We had a 78% response rate (68/87) to the baseline survey, and 27% response rate (21/77) to the follow-up survey. At baseline, 30 (44%) of respondents reported they were currently engaged in a research project with citizen partners compared to 11(52%) in the follow-up survey. Nearly half (10(48%)) of the respondents in the follow-up reported an increase in citizen engagement over the previous year. Respondents identified many benefits to citizen engagement (unique perspectives, assistance with dissemination) and challenges (the need for specific communication skills, meeting organizing and facilitation, and financial/budget support), with little change between the two time points. Respondents reported that the amount of citizen engagement in their research (or related projects) had increased or stayed the same. CONCLUSIONS: Despite increasing recognition of the benefits of including persons with lived experience and large-scale promotion efforts, the research team still lack sufficient training and resources to engage non-academic partners. Our research identified specific areas that could be addressed to improve the engagement of citizens in health research. CI - (c) 2021. The Author(s). 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, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. sachambe@ualberta.ca. FAU - Gruneir, Andrea AU - Gruneir A AD - Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. FAU - Keefe, Janice M AU - Keefe JM AD - Department of Family Studies and Gerontology, Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. FAU - Berendonk, Charlotte AU - Berendonk C AD - Faculty of Nursing, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. FAU - Corbett, Kyle AU - Corbett K AD - Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. FAU - Bishop, Roberta AU - Bishop R AD - Voices Of Individuals, family and friend Caregivers Educating uS (VOICES), University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. FAU - Bond, Graham AU - Bond G AD - Voices Of Individuals, family and friend Caregivers Educating uS (VOICES), University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. FAU - Forbes, Faye AU - Forbes F AD - Voices Of Individuals, family and friend Caregivers Educating uS (VOICES), University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. FAU - Kieloch, Barbara AU - Kieloch B AD - Voices Of Individuals, family and friend Caregivers Educating uS (VOICES), University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. FAU - Mann, Jim AU - Mann J AD - Voices Of Individuals, family and friend Caregivers Educating uS (VOICES), University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. FAU - Thelker, Christine AU - Thelker C AD - Voices Of Individuals, family and friend Caregivers Educating uS (VOICES), University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. FAU - Estabrooks, Carole A AU - Estabrooks CA AD - Faculty of Nursing, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. LA - eng GR - RES346050/CAPMC/CIHR/Canada PT - Journal Article DEP - 20211009 PL - England TA - Res Involv Engagem JT - Research involvement and engagement JID - 101708164 PMC - PMC8502285 OAB - Engaging non-academic research partners is becoming an expectation for Canadian health research teams. Research specifically on citizen (patient) engagement has identified benefits and challenges of partnered research; however, most research has only examined one time point. Less is known about how the perception of engagement may change with exposure to engagement in research activities. Translating Research in Elder Care (TREC) is a research program that aims to improve the quality of care and quality of life for residents, and quality of work life of staff in nursing homes. The team includes academic researchers, citizens (the term preferred by our members to reflect persons with dementia, family/friend caregivers of individuals living in nursing homes), decision-maker stakeholders (e.g., ministries of health, operators of nursing homes), trainees (Masters, PhD, postdoctoral fellows), and staff. The TREC team initiated several activities to deepen the partnerships with our citizen members. This paper describes the teams' perceptions of engagement and the benefits and challenges of citizen engagement in an established health research team. We invited the TREC team to complete an online survey (May 2018) before undertaking engagement activities (e.g., training, priority setting) and after 15 months of activities (July 2019). We asked respondents questions about their experience with citizen engagement, their perceptions of the potential research activities citizens could be engaged in, and the benefits and challenges of citizen engagement. Research team respondents reported an increase in citizen engagement in their research but that needs for support persisted. We identify specific areas where research teams need more training and support to ensure that engaged research is possible and sustainable. OABL- eng OTO - NOTNLM OT - Citizen engagement OT - Engagement science OT - Health services research OT - Integrated knowledge translation COIS- The authors declare that they have no competing interests. EDAT- 2021/10/11 06:00 MHDA- 2021/10/11 06:01 PMCR- 2021/10/09 CRDT- 2021/10/10 20:36 PHST- 2021/05/13 00:00 [received] PHST- 2021/09/24 00:00 [accepted] PHST- 2021/10/10 20:36 [entrez] PHST- 2021/10/11 06:00 [pubmed] PHST- 2021/10/11 06:01 [medline] PHST- 2021/10/09 00:00 [pmc-release] AID - 10.1186/s40900-021-00314-w [pii] AID - 314 [pii] AID - 10.1186/s40900-021-00314-w [doi] PST - epublish SO - Res Involv Engagem. 2021 Oct 9;7(1):71. doi: 10.1186/s40900-021-00314-w.