With patient and public engagement in many aspects of the healthcare system becoming an imperative, the recruitment of patients and members of the public into service and research roles has emerged as a challenge. The existing literature carries few reports of the methods – successful and unsuccessful – that researchers engaged in user-centred design (UCD) projects are using to recruit participants as equal partners in co-design research. This paper uses the recruitment experiences of a specific UCD project to provide a road map for other investigators, and to make general recommendations for funding agencies interested in supporting co-design research. We used a case study methodology and employed Nominal Group Technique (NGT) and Focus Group discussions to collect data. We recruited 25 family caregivers. Employing various strategies to recruit unpaid family caregivers in a UCD project aimed at co-designing an assistive technology for family caregivers, we found that recruitment through caregiver agencies is the most efficient (least costly) and effective mechanism. The nature of this recruitment work – the time and compromises it requires – has, we believe, implications for funding agencies who need to understand that working with caregivers agencies, requires a considerable amount of time for building relationships, aligning values, and establishing trust. In addition to providing adaptable strategies, the paper contributes to discussions surrounding how projects seeking effective, meaningful, and ethical patient and public engagement are planned and funded. We call for more evidence to explore effective mechanisms to recruit family caregivers into qualitative research. We also call for reports of successful strategies that other researchers have employed to recruit and retain family caregivers in their research.

中文翻译：

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招募护理人员参与卫生服务研究：以用户为中心的设计研究的经验教训


随着患者和公众参与医疗保健系统的许多方面变得势在必行，招募患者和公众担任服务和研究角色已成为一项挑战。现有文献很少报道从事以用户为中心的设计（UCD）项目的研究人员用来招募参与者作为协同设计研究的平等合作伙伴的方法（成功和不成功）。本文利用都柏林大学特定项目的招募经验为其他研究人员提供路线图，并为有兴趣支持协同设计研究的资助机构提出一般性建议。我们使用案例研究方法，并采用名义小组技术 (NGT) 和焦点小组讨论来收集数据。我们招募了 25 名家庭护理人员。在都柏林大学旨在为家庭护理人员共同设计辅助技术的项目中，采用各种策略来招募无薪家庭护理人员，我们发现通过护理机构招聘是最高效（成本最低）和最有效的机制。我们认为，这种招聘工作的性质——所需的时间和妥协——对资助机构有影响，他们需要了解与护理机构合作需要大量时间来建立关系、调整价值观和建立信任。除了提供适应性强的策略外，本文还围绕如何规划和资助寻求有效、有意义和道德的患者和公众参与的项目进行了讨论。我们呼吁提供更多证据来探索招募家庭护理人员参与定性研究的有效机制。 我们还呼吁报告其他研究人员在其研究中招募和留住家庭护理人员所采用的成功策略。