scholarly journals 4.B. Skills building seminar: Participatory action research: sharing power to improve public health research outcomes

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Health Research ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Public Health Research ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Care Programme ◽  
Caregiver Support

Abstract This skills building seminar addresses the use of Participatory Action Research (PAR) as strategy to involve professionals and practitioners from (non-academic) health organizations in public health research. These so-called stakeholders possess external -experiential practice-based- knowledge important for a successful realization of a public health research project. After a short introduction on the why and when of PAR as a suitable strategy in public health research, and the why and when in a project's life cycle stakeholders can or must join, levels of participatory practices will be discussed, as well as consequences of transfer of power from academic researchers to professionals and practitioners in the field. The first part of the seminar will be followed by two real life examples from two projects in Germany: 1) a psycho-oncological care project -hospital-based-, where alarm bells went off during the external prospective evaluation of the new care programme. In the development phase of this new programme,key stakeholders had not been involved yet; and 2) the optimization, by inserting PAR cycles, of a stroke family caregiver support programme before implementation in a public health care system. The audience is invited to discuss research dilemmas, as well as pros and cons of the PAR strategy Key messages Participatory action research is about active collaboration between academics and health professionals to bring transformative change through the process of taking action and doing research. Sharing power between academics and health professionals is vital to improve public health research.

scholarly journals Participatory action research: why sharing power is needed to improve public health research

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
E Dorant
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Health Research ◽  
Public Health Research ◽  
Public Health Issue ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Organizational System ◽  
Academic Researchers

Abstract Action research is a qualitative research method well-known for its purpose: to bring transformative change through the simultaneous process of taking action and doing research. It typically employs a cyclical approach of observation, reflection and action. Participatory Action Research (PAR) builds on active collaboration with professionals, practitioners and end–users (stakeholders) working in the system or setting, for instance within a health care setting like a hospital, or within an broader organizational system addressing a public health issue. It seeks to democratize knowledge production and foster opportunities for empowerment by those involved. Especially in public health research, where different organizational systems or levels are interconnected, stakeholder involvement needs to be considered early in the research process. Stakeholders possess expert and insider -experiential- knowledge, and therefore power. PAR advocates for power to be shared between academic researchers and stakeholders, already in the ideation phase of a new research project, but also in the later phases in its life cycle. However, dilemmas have to be solved, like: when in the project's life cycle is the optimal phase to involve stakeholders?how much, at what level or grade, should or could stakeholders be involved, and how much power can be shared between academic researchers and these external stakeholders?Is it worthwhile to involve stakeholders in terms of resources, and who pays the bill?can an academic researcher take the risk of not involving them?

scholarly journals Engaging New Parents in the Development of a Peer Nutrition Education Model Using Participatory Action Research

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 102
Author(s):  
Richard Ball ◽  
Kerith Duncanson ◽  
Lee Ashton ◽  
Andrew Bailey ◽  
Tracy L. Burrows ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Nutrition Education ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Peer Education ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Child Feeding ◽  
Implementation Model

This study investigated the implementation model and research methods of a peer education program for new parents focused on infant feeding and nutrition. Two hundred and sixty-nine parents with an infant aged birth to two years old were invited to become co-researchers in a Participatory Action Research (PAR) study over three years. Data included focus group and online participant meeting transcripts, social media data, correspondence between the implementation team and peer educators, and field notes. All data were consolidated regularly and discussed by project participants and the research team. After each PAR cycle, structured content analysis was conducted, informing the next iteration of the implementation model and research methods. Participating parents were highly engaged in child feeding peer-to-peer education, but felt more effective and comfortable being considered as a child-feeding information resource sharer or ‘champion’ rather than a formal peer educator. Similarly, quantitative data collection was only effective when it was integrated seamlessly into the implementation model. PAR methodology suited the diversity and dynamic real-life study setting, facilitating substantial improvements to the peer nutrition intervention model and data collection methods. Our study demonstrated that a genuine collaboration between health professionals and participants to implement research in practice can achieve both intervention outcomes and research aims.

scholarly journals Factors influencing participatory intervention implementation to improve care coordination

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
M F M Mendes ◽  
G Cazarin ◽  
M M Hemetério ◽  
I C Samico ◽  
I Vargas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Care Coordination ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Steering Committee ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Health Network ◽  
Levels Of Care ◽  
Factors Influencing

Abstract Background Problems related to care coordination are identified as challenges to the organization of health systems. In order to improve coordination, it is necessary to invest in interventions that promote collaboration between levels of care. The study analyzes factors influencing the implementation of the intervention joint meetings between levels of care, guided by participatory action research to improve clinical coordination from the perspective of actors involved in a public health care network in Brazil. Methods Qualitative descriptive-interpretative study carried out in the health network of a municipality in the northeast of Brazil. Ten interviews were conducted to managers and health professionals, members of local steering committee and focus group with primary care physicians and specialists participating in the intervention. Thematic content analysis was used; it generated categories from theoretical and emerging frameworks. Results The willingness of professionals and management support to participate of the intervention process emerge as fundamental factors. However, they are influenced by factors of the system, such as electoral period and management change and these reflected on the slowdown and instability in implementation process. In the health network, turnover of professionals and low trust between primary and specialized care were evidenced as challenges. However, the proactive role of local steering committee, driven by participatory strategy for development of the intervention, promoted reflections and decisions agreed between professionals and managers. This rebounded on adjustments to strengthen the intervention and improvements on knowledge and collaboration between levels. Conclusions analysis of factors contributes to reflection on changes in the context, adaptation of intervention over time and importance of the role of professionals. Such understanding becomes essential for sustainability and improvement of care coordination. Key messages Knowledge about factors that influence implementation of an intervention guided by participatory action research contributes to the development of strategies aimed at its sustainability. Contextual factors that hamper improvements implementation to coordination of care can be overcome through participatory strategies mobilizing health professionals and managers.

scholarly journals Participatory action research and oral history as natural allies in mental health research

2021 ◽  
pp. 146879412110399
Author(s):  
Verusca Calabria ◽  
Di Bailey
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Oral History ◽  
Health Research ◽  
Mental Health Research ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Mental Health Settings ◽  
Methodological Approaches ◽  
The Uk

This article explores the similarities and differences between oral history and participatory action research (PAR) as two qualitative research methods that both accord with an interpretivist paradigm. It examines how combining these two methodologies can benefit mental health research, offering opportunities for reflection and reciprocity. Drawing from the authors’ respective knowledge and experience of using oral history and PAR methods within social care and mental health settings in the UK, the article considers these opportunities in relation to key concepts, namely, the sharing of power, reciprocity and positionality that are inherent in both methodological approaches. The article concludes that PAR-led oral history offers a trans-disciplinary methodology that can offer fresh insights for improving practices and social outcomes and for reducing inequalities.

Witnesses to Hunger: Methods for Photovoice and Participatory Action Research in Public Health

2015 ◽  
Vol 74 (3) ◽  
pp. 255-265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Molly Knowles ◽  
Jenny Rabinowich ◽  
Tianna Gaines-Turner ◽  
Mariana Chilton
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action

scholarly journals Collaboration for Improving Social Work Practice: The Promise of Feminist Participatory Action Research

Affilia ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 088610992095442
Author(s):  
Holly Johnson ◽  
Catherine Flynn
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Steering Committee ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Structural Barriers ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Institutional Power

Feminist research and participatory action research (PAR) share the belief that research should directly serve social justice aims and work to alleviate suffering of marginalized and oppressed people. This article presents the results of a unique feminist PAR (FPAR) approach to designing and implementing an evaluation of an intervention with women who have used violence. The site of our analysis is the steering committee that oversaw this work and the extent to which members adhered to FPAR principles. Over the two decades since feminist critiques of PAR began to emerge, new discourses of collaboration have appeared. As researchers, we must be alert to FPAR discourses that mask ongoing hierarchies. Our findings suggest that, while reflexivity and genuine commitment to collaboration are fundamental to enacting FPAR principles, social workers nevertheless face real challenges confronting structural barriers that impede anti-oppression goals. This study highlights the challenges of adhering faithfully to feminist participatory principles in real-life settings and the need for future research to examine the effectiveness of FPAR processes in achieving authentic collaboration among committee members who are chosen to represent disparate perspectives and are backed by vastly different levels of social and institutional power.

scholarly journals Participatory Action Research on the Impact of Community Gardening in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Investigating the Seeding Plan in Shanghai, China

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (12) ◽  
pp. 6243
Author(s):  
Huaiyun Kou ◽  
Sichu Zhang ◽  
Wenjia Li ◽  
Yuelai Liu
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Mental Health ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Community Gardening ◽  
Group A ◽  
Group B ◽  
The Impact

This study aims to examine the impacts of community gardening on the daily life of residents and the management organisation of pandemic prevention in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, a major public health scourge in 2020. The research team applied a participatory action research approach to work with residents to design and implement the Seeding Plan, a contactless community gardening program. The authors carried out a study to compare the everyday conditions reflecting residents’ mental health of the three subject groups during the pandemic: the participants of the Seeding Plan (Group A), the non-participants living in the same communities that had implemented the Seeding Plan (Group B), and the non-participants in other communities (Group C). According to the results, group A showed the best mental health among the three; Group B, positively influenced by seeding activities, was better than Group C. The interview results also confirmed that the community connections established through gardening activities have a significant impact on maintaining a positive social mentality under extraordinary circumstances. From this, the study concluded that gardening activities can improve people’s mental health, effectively resist negative impacts, and it is a convenient tool with spreading influence on the entire community, so as to support the collective response to public health emergencies in a bottom-up direction by the community.

scholarly journals To Develop Health Education Tools for Nasogastric Tube Home Caring Through Participatory Action Research

Healthcare ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 261
Author(s):  
Fang-Suey Lin ◽  
Hong-Chun Shi
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Health Education ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Medical Personnel ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Effective Learning ◽  
Planning Decisions ◽  
Medical Institutions ◽  
Oral Teaching

Medical institutions provide guidance on caring skills for home caregivers. Oral teaching is combined with graphical tools in a method that has been proved to be an effective way of quickly mastering home caring skills and promotes effective learning for home caregivers. The graphic design and operation contents of this method are constantly revised through interviews and observations, and by carrying out home care application graphics it forms a spiral structure of Plan–Do–Study–Act (PDSA) participatory action research (PAR). In the three cycles of the operation of PDSA PAR, the designers accurately create graphics of the caring details based on the nurses’ demonstrations and develop health education tools that are suitable to provide continuous assistance and services in real-life situations. PAR combined with PDSA, in each of the three cycles of the operation—design personnel, medical personnel and home caregiver personnel, respectively—as the lead roles, guide the planning decisions for PAR. This study is a reference for the improvement and development of medical graphics for health education tools to improve accuracy.

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