Missing Persons Alert: Finding the Lost “Person” in Patient-Oriented Research

Abstract

After a decade of attempts at patient-oriented research, this article seeks to advance the approach, making individuals and communities active partners in health research. Patient-oriented research remains inconsistently implemented, tokenistic, and met with resistance—largely due to the system in which it was conceived and practiced. Patients remain bound by object-oriented medical cosmologies, thus reaffirming the hierarchical system underpinned by professional dominance. Until health research and researchers develop an awareness of the subtle injustices legitimized by the current approach, patient-oriented research will not actualize its mandate. This article does not challenge the healthcare system as that is beyond its scope; instead, it aims to develop further the “what” and “how” of public involvement in health research through the supplement of participatory research methodologies. In effect, setting the early foundations for transformation and encouraging a transition to a more just and equitable healthcare and research ecosystem.