“During the time that Alisha Newman was our Academic Research Partner at the WCRC we undertook a joint development venture with the Cardiff based Marie Curie Palliative Care Research Centre (MCPRC). Our intention was to develop a means of recording and measuring the impact of public involvement in the research process through the lifetime of a study. Working with Alisha and other WCRC public research partners we developed the Public Involvement in Research Impact Tool (PIRIT). This ‘tool’ has been launched to some acclaim and it has generated interest throughout the UK and overseas via downloads. PIRIT can be found via the Cardiff University website
I was recently invited by Alisha to join her in presenting about PIRIT to a seminar organised by People in Health West of England, or PHWE, a network of people and organisations who work together to promote a strong public voice to improve research in health and social care services across the West of England region. The learning and development session was jointly hosted by People in Health West of England, the University of Bristol’s Centre for Academic Primary Care (Alisha’s new employer), the NIHR’s School for Primary Care Research, and Cardiff University. The ground to cover- What are the different approaches that can be used when evaluating public involvement? What resources can we use when planning and evaluating involvement?
The 90-minute workshop looked at the issues to consider, defined impact, and identified how impact can be captured through different tools. It considered four specific tools: PiiAF, PIRIT, the Public Impact Log and the Cube Evaluation Framework. The intention was to increase knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of four different approaches…
So as four presenters on October 14th we remotely delivered knowledge on the 4 impact approaches and via a very well organised technical ‘wrap around,’ contemporaneous audience comments and questions were also considered as we progressed. It was very ‘full on’ but as an awareness raising venture it was very worthwhile. The hard work on PIRIT that was supported by the WCRC was projected to a wide audience.
I have to say that it all went very well and it totally demonstrated the value of what knowledge can be remotely shared over 90 minutes with an audience that exceeded 200. The recording has now been made available on PHWE’s you tube channel.”