Sharing successes: an encouraging process

2006 Conference

The paper will describe a process used to encourage and promote the acceptance of public involvement in health research. The ‘Success Stories’ work was facilitated by a sub-group of North West Users Research Advisory Group (NWURAG), which is a mix of lay, academic and health researchers who engage in a range of activities to champion public involvement in the North West.

The aims of the ‘Success Stories’ project were twofold: to map and promote user involvement research activities across the North West. In doing this we wanted to co-ordinate a resource of people with experience and expertise in user involvement. We also aimed to encourage by example, and so planned a ‘showcase’ event, where the researchers who responded to our mapping survey could disseminate their work. A further objective was to bring lay and professionally-employed people together to share, network and learn from each other. The emphasis of the project as a whole was to celebrate and learn from successes in research which actively involves the public.

We hope that delegates will learn more about the benefits and successes of public involvement in research, as well as ways of sharing and disseminating this kind of research to a wider audience.