Embedded Files
Public partners are often asked to help deliver staff training, present at a meeting or conference or help with educational resource development (online and hard-copy).
1. Planning and recruiting to the activity
Develop a role description
Before you can try to recruit members of the public for your activity, you will need to create a role description. This will outline simply and clearly:
What the activity is;
When it is;
What the requirements of the public partner will be;
The level of commitment (including time) needed;
Arrangements for any payment and ongoing support;
Expected output from the activity.
Writing a role description increases transparency, and is the first step to building a trusting and accountable relationship with the public partner. It also helps to manage expectations from both sides at the outset.
A template role description (example) is provided for you to use and adapt.
Where to find people
Often for this type of activity, you may already know a public partner that you wish to invite or have an idea about the experience you would like them to have. First, you need to consider:
How many people do you need;
Who currently 'owns' the relationship with that public partner? Contact that person to reach out to them so that the public partner does not get approached by an unknown contact or multiple contacts;
Budgets - You will need to set a budget aside for the payment of a public partner. See the page 'Budgeting and Payment' in this toolkit for more information;
Time to plan - You will need to have approximately 2 months of planning time before your activity in order to find a public partner, confirm their availability, brief them on their task and follow up with them afterwards.
The RDNCC PPIE Team is well-placed to provide you with contacts and guidance about public partners for educational activities. Please email the team to discuss your needs.
You might also like to consider reaching out to the following platforms to find your public partner:
People in Research is a NIHR platform managed by CED and used to advertise involvement opportunities for the public. Users will respond to adverts directly and here you will find a variety of people with different levels of PPIE experience.
NIHR Infrastructure. If you require members of the public with very specific lived experiences or particular health conditions, then you are advised to contact your local PPIE Lead within the research network or National Specialty Lead from the Medical Directorate. The majority of NIHR programmes have PPIE Leads within RRDNs, who can help you recruit public partners for your activity.
Charity partners and stakeholders with experience working with the public with a specific research interest or experience can often assist you with recruitment. Contact the National Specialty Lead or Stakeholder Engagement Manager of your department for more information.
2. Before the event
Support
Public partners, whether experienced or not, will still need a considerable amount of support to fulfil their role. This includes:
Admin support to organise payments, travel, accommodation and papers for meetings/events;
A point of contact for questions, technical queries (if online) and support before, during and after the planned activity;
A peer or 'buddy' to help them plan for their role and share responsibilities (consider recruiting 2 public partners as a minimum for any activity);
An induction meeting with the organisers before the event to ensure they have all the information they need;
An assessment of accessibility needs to allow them to contribute fully;
Assessment of content - Is it potentially triggering, or upsetting for the participant?
Some content in user testing or larger consultations may involve sensitive topics and need special consideration before planning the activity. Many public partners will have personal experiences of many of the things we ask them about and may have lots of emotions attached to words/scenarios/disease types. Some questions you might want to consider before planning your activity are:
Would it be considered sensitive outside of the context of your work?
Does the topic ask about private issues that could be stressful? e.g. marriage, death, illness
Do any of the questions involve individuals revealing information that could be seen to be stigmatizing? e.g. gender
If you find that the content is sensitive, then you should consider ongoing support for participants and provide them with signposting information if required.
Accessibility and Inclusion
You will need to consider if public partners need any additional support or have any accessibility needs to allow them to contribute or attend an activity. We have provided a few template examples and information below to assist you in your planning. Also, consider if you might need translation or interpretation as part of your planning for participants:
A practical checklist for public engagement activities (UCL - content not managed by NIHR)
3. At the event
Support
Make sure that on the day of the activity, your public partner(s) have:
Contact information for the organiser (email and phone);
All paperwork (make hard copies available if requested);
Clear information about time/date/duration of the event;
Login details and ownership privileges of the online platform if online (e.g. can they share their screen?);
Someone to contact if any difficulties on the day/during the event (if not the organiser);
Make sure you have undertaken a risk assessment on behalf of the public partner if attending a face-to-face event (contact the RDNCC PPIE Team for a template)
An introduction - make sure you introduce your public partner, let them tell the audience about themselves or their story (if they wish to) and introduce other members of the group if unknown to them.
4. Follow up
Thank you
Always follow up with participants and provide them with a thank you. This should be done as soon as possible after the event and as a minimum by the next working day.
It is important to show public partners that you appreciate their contributions. If you can, provide further information on any related follow-up activity where appropriate to do so.
De-brief meeting
It is advised that you organise a debrief or follow-up meeting following the activity or event. Ideally with the main point of contact that has been communicating with the public partner.
The meeting should cover:
A reflection on the activity, the outcomes and what comes next;
An assessment of the public partner and their well-being. If the content of the activity is sensitive, then you may need to consider external support or signposting;
A reflection on the recruitment process, onboarding and follow-up. This can also be in the form of a survey or questionnaire.
The RDNCC PPIE Team has a standard survey that can be used as a template for public partners, capturing insights about their experience.
Outputs
If there will be an output from the event or activity consider, along with your public partner(s), what would work best for them and you. Some examples could include:
Sharing of the recording of the meeting/event with staff or the public (please ensure you have consent for this)
Writing a plain language summary of the activity. Some examples of previous summaries can be found here (Covid Connect)
Co-produce formal meeting minutes (example)
We recommend that you always give public partners a chance to review any outputs and reflect on their contributions before you finalise their comments or any reports.
Payments and expenses
Please follow the guidance on public partner payments and expenses.
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