Activities and Impacts of Patient Engagement

Activities and impacts of patient

engagement in CIHR SPOR funded research: A

cross‑sectional survey of academic researcher

and patient partner experiences

Study aims: To describe engagement activities and perceived impacts of projects funded by the Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR).

What we did: We surveyed 66 academic researchers and 20 patient partners who were involved in research projects across 13 SPOR funding calls (2014–2019). Thematic analysis was used to describe engagement activities and impacts.

What we found: Patient partners were engaged in seven types of activities across the research cycle: (a) sharing experiences/giving advice, (b) identifying the research focus/methods, (c) developing/revising aspects of the project, (d) conducting research activities, (e) study participation, (f ) presenting on behalf of the project, and (g) other grant development or knowledge translation activities. Engagement was associated with six different types of impacts related to knowledge, outputs, or directions being (a) created, (b) moulded, (c) confirmed, or (d) chosen/prioritized, (e) perceived success of the research, and (f ) minimal/negative impacts on the research.