Co-producing knowledge in health and social care research

Reflections on the challenges and ways to enable more equal relationships

Bibliographic Data

ID22232907
AuthorsMichelle Farr (0000-0001-8773-846X, University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust, corresponding author), Philippa Davies (0000-0002-2678-7126, University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust), Heidi Andrews (University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust), Darren Bagnall, Darren M Bagnall (0000-0003-1493-0682, University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust), Emer Brangan (0000-0002-1288-0960, University of the West of England), Rosemary Davies (0000-0002-2361-1889, University of the West of England), Rosie Davies (0000-0001-9969-1902, University of the West of England)
Year2021
Volume8
Issue1
Publication date2021-05-06
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHumanities and Social Sciences Communications (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2662-9992 • E-ISSN: 2662-9992
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1057/s41599-021-00782-1
OpenAlexW3163090250
LanguageEN
Citations received26
References cited23

Researchers are increasingly encouraged to co-produce research, involving members of the public, service users, policy makers and practitioners in more equal relationships throughout a research project. The sharing of power is often highlighted as a key principle when co-producing research. However, health and social care research, as with many other academic disciplines, is carried out within embedded hierarchies and structural inequalities in universities, public service institutions, and research funding systems—as well as in society more broadly. This poses significant challenges to ambitions for co-production. This article explores the difficulties that are faced when trying to put ideal co-production principles into practice. A reflective account is provided of an interdisciplinary project that aimed to better understand how to reduce power differentials within co-produced research. The project facilitated five workshops, involving researchers from different disciplines, health, social care and community development staff and public contributors, who all had experience in co-production within research. In the workshops, people discussed how they had attempted to enable more equal relationships and shared ideas that supported more effective and equitable co-produced research. Shared interdisciplinary learning helped the project team to iteratively develop a training course, a map of resources and reflective questions to support co-produced research. The gap between co-production principles and practice is challenging. The article examines the constraints that exist when trying to share power, informed by multidisciplinary theories of power. To bring co-production principles into practice, changes are needed within research practices, cultures and structures; in understandings of what knowledge is and how different forms of knowledge are valued. The article outlines challenges and tensions when co-producing research and describes potential ideas and resources that may help to put co-production principles into practice. We highlight that trying to maintain all principles of co-production within the real-world of structural inequalities and uneven distribution of resources is a constant challenge, often remaining for now in the realm of aspiration

Business · Engineering ethics · Health care · Knowledge management · Multidisciplinary approach · Pedagogy · Political science · Public relations · Reflective Practice · Social science · Sociology · Computer Science · Engineering · Healthcare innovation and challenges · Interprofessional Education and Collaboration · Mental Health and Patient Involvement

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