Evaluating participant experiences of Community Panels to scrutinise policy modelling for health inequalities: the SIPHER Consortium

Stewart, Ellen; SIPHER Greater Manchester Community Panel; SIPHER Scotland Community Panel; SIPHER Sheffield Community Panel; Such, Elizabeth

Abstract

Data-intensive research, including policy modelling, poses some distinctive challenges for efforts to mainstream public involvement into health research. There is a need for learning about how to design and deliver involvement for these types of research which are highly technical, and where researchers are at a distance from the people whose lives data depicts. This article describes our experiences involving members of the public in the SIPHER Consortium, a data-intensive policy modelling programme with researchers and policymakers working together over five years to try to address health inequalities. We focus on evaluating people’s experiences as part of Community Panels for SIPHER. Key issues familiar from general public involvement efforts include practical details, careful facilitation of meetings, and payment for participants. We also describe some of the more particular learning around how to communicate technical research to non-academic audiences, in order to enable public scrutiny of research decisions. We conclude that public involvement in policy modelling can be meaningful and enjoyable, but that it needs to be carefully organised, and properly resourced.

• Journal Article Type: Note
• Acceptance Date: Nov 27, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Jan 8, 2024
• Publication Date: 2024
• Deposit Date: Jan 10, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 10, 2024
• Journal: Research Involvement and Engagement
• Electronic ISSN: 2056-7529
• Publisher: Springer Verlag
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 10
• Issue: 1
• Article Number: 4
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40900-023-00521-7
• Keywords: Policy modelling, Data-intensive research, Public involvement, Evaluation, Health inequalities
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/29547960
• Publisher URL: https://researchinvolvement.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40900-023-00521-7