Why should consumers be involved in research?
- Become a part of a community.
- Display and share their lived-experience expertise to add value to the research.
- Make sure research is relevant to community needs.
- Learn new things, gain new skills and make use of existing skills.
- Help put research into practice.
- Create more focused research.
- Provide a consumer perspective in research.
- Improve communication between health professionals and consumers.
- Find potential issues in research projects and interventions.
- Guide the development of plain language summaries.
- Better sharing of research and interventions.
Amanda is a kidney transplant recipient and researcher. We asked her why consumers should be involved in research.
- It is helpful when sharing research findings with the community.
- It avoids research and finance waste.
- It gives a voice to consumers.
- It helps to translate research into practice where it’s most needed.
- It helps to find and prioritise what is important to consumers.