My name is Kath Maguire, currently I am studying as a PhD student with the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry.

Over the past few years I have taken part in public and patient involvement (PPI) in a number of ways, reviewing research proposals, commenting on protocols and sitting as a panellist on funding boards. Through these activities I have met a lot of different people doing similar things and who have each had their own reasons for becoming and remaining involved. They include members of research networks, steering group members, project advisors, lay researchers or members of ethics committees. There are many different PPI roles, some involve working in groups while others mean sitting alone with papers or a computer screen.

Sometimes critics of public and patient involvement have labelled those of us who have become very involved as ‘the usual suspects’, implying that we do not represent a sufficiently diverse cross section of society. But little research has been done to look at why some people become involved while others are put off or drop out.

This study is intended to start to bridge that gap. It will look at why people became involved in health service research and what keeps them interested or drives them away. It will ask people what PPI is about for them. It will also look at how PPI might fit with social theories, and how those theories look in the light of the experiences of people taking part in PPI in health research.

 

The full participant information sheet about the study is available by clicking the  'About the study' button on the left.

 

If you are in England and you are involved in health research as a public or patient representative and would be interested in participating or commenting on this study, please get in touch. the 'Contact me' button on the left connects to my email

Welcome!