Evidence Library

Abstract: This is a response to a previous article published by the Journal of Medical Ethics titled ‘PPI, paradoxes and Plato: who’s sailing the ship?’ It addresses the apparent paradox that training patients and members of the public prior to involvement in research causes them to lose their lay perspective. It argues that this rarely happens as patients/members of the public are not often trained to the degree of becoming researchers, but are more often briefed so as to understand where their expertise brings added value. In the few cases where patients/members of the public are trained to the point of becoming researchers, an essential part of the training is ensuring they make best use of their lay perspective and therefore never lose sight of it, for example in the case of peer interviewers. The author concludes that therefore the proposed paradox does not exist in practice.

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Categories: health
public health
social care
reflecting on public involvement in research
journal article

Date Entered: 2013/05/08

Date Edited: 2013/05/08