What kind of PPI activity should I plan?
There is no single approach that works for every lab based project. But all of the researchers involved in developing this guidance found that group discussions worked well.
Unless there is a good reason not to do so, we suggest that at least one meeting takes place face-to-face if possible. We recognise this isn't possible during the pandemic, so we'd suggest holding at least one virtual meeting where people can see each other (e.g. a Zoom call or similar). Lab based researchers have run virtual meetings since the pandemic and they have been successful. Other meetings could then take place virtually, or by phone if people prefer this.
All of the researchers who helped to write this guidance planned either a single meeting, or two meetings. Most of them have since decided to involve these patients and carers again at a later stage in the research.