Health Education Reaching Out (HERO) Projects exemplify PPI as a catalyst to improved outcomes not an inhibitor

2012 Conference

Abstract: HERO works with students, teachers and health professionals to investigate the best ways of getting health messages across to young people, communities, patients and their families. Active patient and public participation is a significant component of all HERO projects. This presentation will illustrate the different opportunities for stakeholder involvement showing how they can affect research design through to identifying new research areas, resulting in novel projects addressing the issues that are key. HERO works in partnership with clinical genetics providing a family and community facing service that enables us to bring research initiatives and developments to wider audiences and providing a route for the public to identify their own priorities for health research.

We will present an overview of the PPI in the projects and give the stakeholder perspective of being involved, how was it for them and what next? The aim will be to show that PPI is a resource and that the more perspectives we have the more barriers or issues will be raised early in the process resulting in relevant interventions and initiatives. Discussions will revolve around the participant’s perspective, the benefits of effective PPI and avoiding tokenism.