Blending Participatory Action Synthesis and Meta-Ethnography: An Innovative Approach to Evaluating Complex Community Health Transformation

Reed, Kristin; Carr, Tara F.; Rabbani, Rumana; Chandler, Caroline; Scaccia, Jonathan; Cook, Brittany; Howard, Paul; Ramaswamy, Rohit

doi:10.35844/001c.29011

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 7 publications

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“…To expand the documentation of community-based efforts, accessible methods need to be developed for communities to synthesize and report on findings and learning. A recent example of such an effort is the participatory synthesis process that was used in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation–funded 100 Million Healthier Lives initiative in which community implementers partnered with evaluation team to document generalizable insights from routine program data [ 55 , 59 ]. The process of synthesis, documentation, review, and publication in peer-reviewed journals was arduous and time-consuming and required a commitment well beyond the funds provided by the grant.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A scoping review of the use of quality improvement methods by community organizations in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada to improve health and well-being in community settings

Turner

Carr

Randall

et al. 2022

IJQHC Communications

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Background Quality improvement (QI) methods have been used extensively to improve quality of care in healthcare facilities. However, addressing complex public health issues such as Covid-19 and climate change, and their underlying structural determinants require community-level innovations that go beyond health care. Building the capacity of community organizations to use QI methods to improve health and well being of residents is a promising approach to improving community health and well being. This review aims to explore how community health improvement has been defined in the literature, the extent to which community organizations have knowledge and skill in QI and how communities have used QI to drive community-level improvements. Methods Guided by a published study protocol, we searched Scopus, Web of Science, and Proquest Health management for articles between 2000–2019 from US, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. We included articles describing any QI intervention in a community setting to improve community well being. Following standards for conducting scoping reviews, we screened, extracted and synthesized data. We performed a quantitative tabulation and a thematic analysis to summarize the results. Results Thirty-two articles met criteria for inclusion, with 31 set in the US. QI approaches at the community level were the same as those used in clinical settings, and many involved multifaceted interventions targeting chronic disease management or health promotion, especially among minority and low-income communities. There was little discussion on how well these methods worked in community settings or whether they needed to be adapted for use by community organizations. Moreover, decision making authority over the project design and implementation was typically vested in organizations outside the community and did not contribute to strengthening the capability of community organizations to undertake QI on their own. Conclusion Most QI initiatives undertaken in communities are extensions of projects in health care settings and are not led by community residents. There is an urgent need for additional research on whether community organizations can use these methods on their own to tackle complex public health problems that go beyond healthcare quality.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A scoping review of the use of quality improvement methods by community organizations in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada to improve health and well-being in community settings

Turner

Carr

Randall

et al. 2022

IJQHC Communications

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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Producing knowledge together: a participatory approach to synthesising research across a large-scale collaboration in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health

Conte,

Laycock,

Bailie

et al. 2024

Health Res Policy Sys

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Background Despite that stakeholder participation in evidence synthesis could result in more useful outcomes, there are few examples of processes that actively involve them in synthesis work. Techniques are needed that engage diverse stakeholders as equal partners in knowledge co-production. The aims of this paper are to describe an innovative participatory process of synthesising a large body of academic research products and compare the findings of the participatory process against two traditional approaches to synthesis: a rapid review and a structured review. Methods First, a rapid synthesis of all research outputs (n = 86) was conducted by researchers with in-depth knowledge of the collaboration’s research. Second, a team of researchers and service providers conducted a structured synthesis of seventy-eight peer-reviewed articles and reports generated by the collaboration. Fifty-five publications were brought forward for further synthesis in part three, a facilitated participatory synthesis. Finally, we explored the value added by the participatory method by comparing findings generated across the three synthesis approaches. Results Twelve researchers and 11 service providers/policy partners—8 self-identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander—participated in two facilitated workshops (totalling 4 h). Workshop activities engaged participants in reviewing publication summaries, identifying key findings, and evoked review, discussion and refinement. The process explicitly linked experiential knowledge to citations of academic research, clearly connecting the two knowledge types. In comparing the findings generated across all three methods we found mostly consistencies; the few discrepancies did not contradict but gave deeper insights into statements created by the other methods. The participatory synthesis generated the most, detailed, and unique findings, and contextual insights about the relevance of the key messages for practice. Conclusion The participatory synthesis engaged stakeholders with diverse backgrounds and skillsets in synthesising a large body of evidence in a relatively short time. The participatory approach produced findings comparable to traditional synthesis methods while extending knowledge and identifying lessons most relevant for the participants who, ultimately, are the end users of the research. This process will interest other large-scale research collaborations seeking to engage stakeholders in evidence synthesis.

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Blending Participatory Action Synthesis and Meta-Ethnography: An Innovative Approach to Evaluating Complex Community Health Transformation

Cited by 2 publications

References 7 publications

A scoping review of the use of quality improvement methods by community organizations in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada to improve health and well-being in community settings

A scoping review of the use of quality improvement methods by community organizations in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada to improve health and well-being in community settings

Producing knowledge together: a participatory approach to synthesising research across a large-scale collaboration in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health

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