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- Title
Identifying the priorities for supervision by lived experience researchers: a Q sort study.
- Authors
Gupta, Veenu; Eames, Catrin; Bryant, Alison; Greenhill, Beth; Golding, Laura; Day, Jennifer; Fisher, Peter
- Abstract
Background: Lived experience researchers draw on their lived and living experiences to either lead on or inform research. Their personal experiences are relevant to the research topic and so they must manage the interplay of their health and healthcare experiences with the research, population, and data they work with, as well as the more general challenges of being a researcher. Lived experience researchers must navigate these dilemmas in addition to queries over their competency, due to issues relating to intersectionality and epistemic injustice. This justifies a motivation to better understand the experiences of lived experience researchers and develop appropriate and personalised supervision based on their preferences and needs. Methods: Q methodology was used to identify a collection of identity-related issues that impact lived experience researchers during PhD research in the context of the UK. These issues were presented in the form of 54 statements to 18 lived experience researchers to prioritise as topics to explore in supervision. Result: It was found that lived experiences researchers could be grouped into three distinct factors following an inverted factor analysis: Factor 1: Strengthening my identity, skills, growth, and empowerment; Factor 2: Exploring the emotional and relational link I have with the research and Factor 3: Navigating my lived and professional experiences practically and emotionally. The findings suggest that there may be three types of lived experience researchers, each with different needs from supervision, suggesting the population is heterogeneous. Conclusion: The research identified a deeper understanding of the needs of lived experience researchers and highlights the importance of personalised supervision according to the individual needs of the researcher and their preferences for supervision. The findings reinforce the importance of integrating a clinical dimension into supervision to support the needs of all lived experience researchers. Plain English summary: This research aimed to understand how to support lived experience researchers through supervision in the UK. Lived experience researchers lead and/or inform health research based on their personal experience of health and healthcare services which can lead to service provision that meets service user needs. People in these roles might be called lived experience researchers. Lived experience researchers may experience difficulties in their role as they conduct research linked to their own experiences. The research could trigger them to remember their own experiences. Other researchers might not value their knowledge and expertise as they are seen as patients and not professionals. This may be because they are viewed through their stigmatised patient identity. The support they need as lived experience researchers remains relatively unexplored. Fifty-four statements on the lived experience researcher experience were presented to 18 lived experience researchers. They were asked to prioritise these statements and arrange them on a grid according to how useful they were to them to explore in supervision. Lived experience researchers who prioritised statements similarly were grouped together. Three groups of lived experience researchers were found. The 1st group were interested in supervision that helped them develop their confidence, growth and professional skills. The 2nd group wanted to understand their personal link to the subject. The 3rd group wanted support to manage personal and professional challenges and to overcome barriers they experienced. The findings suggest different approaches are needed to personalise supervision for lived experience researchers.
- Subjects
UNITED Kingdom; RESEARCH personnel; CLINICAL supervision; Q technique; FACTOR analysis; SUPERVISION; INDIVIDUAL needs
- Publication
Research Involvement & Engagement, 2024, Vol 10, Issue 1, p1
- ISSN
2056-7529
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1186/s40900-024-00596-w