Introducing PCORI's Engagement in Health Research Literature Explorer
What does engagement in research look like and what impact does it have? We can learn from peer-reviewed journal articles about the experiences researchers, patients, and other healthcare stakeholders have had engaging together on research projects. But these pieces are hard to find, because there is no standard language for describing engagement and the diversity of approaches and groups it can involve.
PCORI decided to tackle this problem head on.
To create a resource for studying engagement and to help others implement meaningful engagement in real world settings, PCORI has developed the Engagement in Health Research Literature Explorer. The explorer is a unique, searchable list of articles related to engagement in research, organized around four types: papers describing engagement experiences; papers on research findings that also report on engagement; studies of engagement practices; and other important works that guide the field, including frameworks, conceptual models, and editorials.
To help users find the papers most relevant to them, every article is tagged for key characteristics, including the types of partners engaged—for instance, patients, clinicians, or payers. Articles are also tagged for the parts of the research that partners worked on, such as selecting the research question, recruiting study participants, or disseminating results.
These features help users access information that is most relevant to them. Whether you want to browse new articles or seek answers to targeted questions, these categorizations and tags can help you. Users can also use a keyword search to narrow results.
To build the explorer, we developed criteria to determine whether articles are relevant to engagement in health research. The search strategy began with systematic reviews about engagement with patients and other healthcare stakeholders. We refined our search terms to help the explorer include relevant articles, reviewed the tables of contents of select journals, and considered recommendations for other articles to include. We update our search monthly to keep the explorer as current as possible.
PCORI requires the meaningful involvement of patients, caregivers, clinicians, and other healthcare stakeholders throughout the research process, from topic selection through study conduct and the dissemination of results. We believe engagement influences research to be more patient centered, useful, and trustworthy.
PCORI is committed to advancing patient-centered research, and engaging patients and those who care for them throughout the research process is paramount in our efforts. The explorer is one strategy we’re employing to remain pioneers in the science of engagement.
In fact, we hear from our funded researchers and their partners about all the ways engagement contributes to the impact of their work, including inspiring the pursuit of important research topics, ensuring interventions and the study procedures are culturally appropriate and minimally burdensome for both patients and their caregivers, ensuring study outcomes matter to patients, and expanding the reach and credibility of findings to broader audiences. We think this ultimately leads to greater use and uptake of research results by patients and the broader healthcare community, more patient-centered healthcare, and better health outcomes.
PCORI is committed to advancing patient-centered research, and engaging patients and those who care for them throughout the research process is paramount in our efforts. The explorer is one strategy we’re employing to remain pioneers in the science of engagement.
We hope you will check out this new tool and share it with others. If you find an article that you think should be included, please share it with us at eval@pcori.org.