Measuring the public involvement of children and young people in public health research

2012 Conference

Abstract: Public involvement has been considered a complex intervention which would benefit from a clearer evidence base of ‘what works, for whom, in what circumstances and why’ (Staniszewska et al 2011). Some of the key issues with current evidence include a focus on the process of public involvement over a clear and consistent measurement of outcomes, a tendency to evaluate public involvement from a user perspective neglecting the impacts to the researchers and the research projects, as well as an emphasis on short term outcomes with a paucity of long term impact data.

The poster will set out the research centre context, the approach taken including the employment of an involvement researcher and establishment of a young people’s advisory group and the programme of work undertaken to increase public involvement. Furthermore it will outline a monitoring and evaluation framework developed by DECIPHer, that defines for researchers, what public involvement data is collected, when and how. It is hoped the data will contribute to the evidence base for public involvement particularly in the shortcoming areas noted.

It is hoped delegates will learn about and discuss the complex nature of measuring public involvement and the attempts of one research centre to do this.