Author:
Bergien Sofie Olsgaard,Skovgaard Lasse,Steenberg Josephine Lyngh,Kristiansen Maria
Abstract
Abstract
Background
Participatory research has gained traction as an approach to unlock perspectives when creating scientific knowledge and to facilitate societal changes. By conducting research with people, participatory research strives to engage individuals’ perspectives in designing, conducting, and disseminating the research. Nevertheless, few studies have unpacked how understandings of the studied phenomenon are shaped among diverse research partners and, concurrently, how different perspectives are combined. Nested within an overall participatory mixed methods study on aging with multiple sclerosis (MS), this qualitative study explores how understandings of aging with MS are shaped in encounters between university researchers, older adults with MS, and employees in a patient association.
Methods
The study was collaboratively conducted in Denmark by three research partners: a group of older adults with MS, employees in a patient association, and university researchers. Data on how different understandings of aging with MS were represented and shaped during the three-year research process was generated through field notes, meeting minutes, focus group interviews, and individual interviews. The collected data was analyzed through a thematic network analysis.
Results
The study demonstrates how different understandings of aging with MS were represented among the research partners when the research was initiated. These understandings were shaped prior to —and, therefore, outside—the research setting, drawing from the research participants’ lived experiences, professional backgrounds, and organizational cultures or situated in larger societal narratives. Through a process centered on reflexivity among the engaged research partners, the understandings of what it means to age with MS was shaped and re-shaped and eventually merged into a more dynamic understanding of later life with MS where different perspectives could co-exist.
Conclusion
The findings demonstrate that research partners, including older adults with MS and employees from a patient association, brought diverse understandings to the study. Reflexive practices enabled these perspectives to co-exist, enhancing engagement and transparency, and fostering a dynamic understanding of later life with MS. This highlights the value of reflexivity in evolving complex understandings within participatory research.
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Reference53 articles.
1. Schubotz D. Participatory research: why and how to involve people in research. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE; 2019. 264 s.
2. Cornwall A, Jewkes R. What is participatory research? Soc Sci Med Dec. 1995;41(12):1667–76.
3. Nyström ME, Karltun J, Keller C, Andersson Gäre B. Collaborative and partnership research for improvement of health and social services: researcher’s experiences from 20 projects. Health Res Policy Syst Dec. 2018;16(1):46.
4. Blair T, Minkler M. Participatory Action Research with older adults: Key principles in Practice. The gerontologist. 1 Oktober. 2009;49(5):651–62.
5. Macaulay AC. Participatory research: what is the history? Has the purpose changed? Fam Pract. 1 juni. 2017;34(3):256–8.