Public and community involvement and engagement

Ethos and process development

From the initial development of the REVAL programme we have worked closely with three members of the Applied Research Collaboration- Greater Manchester Public and Community Involvement and Engagement (PCIE) panel. The panel was formed to represent people from different socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds, and under-represented communities.

These panel members act as PCIE facilitators for REVAL. All three facilitators are strong advocates of co-production in health and care research and have been instrumental in shaping our operational structure, as well as our PCIE approach.

Several PCIE approaches were reviewed by our PCIE representatives and in response, we adopted their proposition for a hybrid structure to facilitate active and relevant PCIE input across the programme of work. This recognises the need for rapidity and to continue to learn as the programme evolves.

While the team is networked into extensive PCIE links via multiple channels across the UK, we recognised the need for a cohesive approach to engagement that can develop productively over time.

Our PCIE approach

Currently, when we start scoping an evaluation, we link with a designated REVAL public facilitator to allow rapid initiation. We discuss the potential evaluation and the possible approaches to PCIE, as well as target members and key networks that we can link to. A PCIE plan is drafted and guided by this, and a range of activities are initiated including the following.

• Development of suitable PCIE facing materials about the topic and involvement as a public member.
• Mapping of networks and development of PCIE adverts to be circulated as required.
• Exploration of training requirements.

We recognise that recent research exploring the experiences of researchers and public contributors within rapid engagement flagged the risk of public members experiencing less involvement as evaluations progress. (Gilchrist K et al, The role of patient and public involvement in rapid qualitative studies, 2022).

Other challenges included timely recruitment of diverse public members and ensuring members had access to adequate training, again within the required timescales of a rapid evaluation.

These are issues we explore and iterate, aiming to constantly enhance involvement and engagement in our rapid evaluation.