Participatory research—A modernizing science for primary health care

Abstract

Participatory research is the science of partnerships underlying research, concerned with research governance, ownership of research products, and relationships behind research objectives and methods. The common strand behind the quite different schools of participatory research is that research should be in respectful partnership with people; it is not about researchers working on, for, or about people. Modern participatory research embraces different philosophies through several applications. The first application addresses research objectives, with participation at different points in the research cycle. Second, modern participatory research is relevant in adaptive management, including management of primary health care. Third, participatory research is a tool for patient engagement and patient‐centered outcomes in the clinical context. A fourth application is participatory research as an intervention: Participatory research moves people, and it mobilizes resources and can thus be pivotal to sustainability and for health‐promoting intersectoral linkages. As primary health care is a family medicine responsibility, participatory research offers family medicine a valuable toolbox complementing the accepted clinical toolboxes. Through shared identification of problems and decisions about solutions, participatory research increases participant capacity to identify and address their own issues. Among clinicians, it enhances professional practices. In the bigger social picture, all this promotes social justice, self‐determination, and knowledge utilization.

Bridging Western and Indigenous knowledge through intercultural dialogue: lessons from participatory research in Mexico

“…29–31 Modern participatory research recognises that knowledge creation is the result of a partnership in which stakeholder perspectives contribute at an equal level of respect. 32 33 …”

Participatory Action Research Applied to an Ear, Nose, and Throat Specialty Service Redesign in Remote Australia: A Mixed-Methods Study of Key Stakeholder Perspectives

“…The use of PAR in this study enabled service redesign that has developed a more relevant and appropriate service model than would otherwise have been developed [ 14 , 15 ]. As with other research in this area, PAR assists with maintaining the relationships behind the research objectives [ 14 ].…”

“…The use of PAR in this study enabled service redesign that has developed a more relevant and appropriate service model than would otherwise have been developed [ 14 , 15 ]. As with other research in this area, PAR assists with maintaining the relationships behind the research objectives [ 14 ]. It takes the research a further step than undertaking only a literature review [ 15 ]; the practice of which has been criticized as ineffective as a sole approach to obtaining community or stakeholder involvement [ 15 ].…”

“…This reflective process is directly linked to action, influenced by understanding of history, culture, and local context and embedded in social relationships” [ 13 ]. Due to the ear health disparity in the area, PAR was chosen because it allows service users to provide input into defining the scope and context of the project (service redesign) and the output of the newly designed ENT service model [ 13 , 14 , 15 ]. The involvement of stakeholders in health service redesign influences the quality, dissemination, and contextualization of findings and, therefore, contributes to the sustainability of the service delivery [ 16 ].…”

Fuzzy cognitive mapping with Inuit women: what needs to change to improve cervical cancer screening in Nunavik, northern Quebec?

“…In a participatory research paradigm [11], we invited Nunavik women to develop their own theory of what needs to change to improve screening in the community. Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping (FCM) is useful in overcoming language barriers, in multicultural contexts, and in settings with educational disparities [12] .…”