Reporting on patient and public involvement (PPI) in research publications: using the GRIPP2 checklists with lay co-researchers

Abstract

Background

Patient and public involvement (PPI) in health and social care research is considered important internationally, with increasing evidence that PPI improves the quality, relevance and outcomes of research. There has been a growth in research publications that describe PPI in the research process, but the frequency and detail of PPI reporting varies considerably. This paper reports on a collaborative study that aimed to describe the extent of PPI in publications from research funded by the Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) in the East of England (EoE), part of the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) in England (2014–2019).

Methods

A descriptive study of all research publications (1st January 2014 to 31st October 2017) funded by the NIHR CLAHRC EoE. Members of the Public Involvement in Research group (PIRg), at the University of Hertfordshire, were actively involved, with four PIRg co-researchers. We used an internationally recognised reporting checklist for PPI called the GRIPP2 (Guidance for Reporting Involvement of Patients and the Public, Version 2) to guide the reviewing process.

Results

Out of 148 research papers identified, 16 (14%) reported some aspect of PPI activity and were included for review. Ten of the publications (63%) acknowledged the contributions of PPI individuals and/or groups and five had PPI co-authors. There was considerable variation in the PPI reported in the publications, with some ‘missed opportunities’ to provide detail of PPI undertaken. The perspectives of the co-researchers shaped the reporting of the results from this study. The co-researchers found the GRIPP2-SF (short form) to be useful, but the GRIPP2-LF (long form) was considered over complicated and not user-friendly.

Conclusions

This is one of the first studies to involve lay co-researchers in the review of PPI reporting using the GRIPP2 reporting checklists (GRIPP2-SF and GRIPP2-LF). We make recommendations for a revised version of the GRIPP2-SF, with clearer instructions and three additional sections to record whether PPI is reported in the abstract or key words, in the acknowledgements section, and whether there are PPI co-authors. We also recommend the provision of training and support for patient and public peer reviewers.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40900-021-00295-w.

Plain English Summary

Involving patients, family carers and members of the public in research is known as patient and public involvement, or PPI. In health and social care research, PPI is considered important by many, including patients and research funders. Increasingly, research publications include an account of how members of the public have been involved in research being reported. But often there is not much detail regarding who was involved, what they did, and what difference their involvement made.

In our study, we reviewed publications from research funded by an organisation called the Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) in the East of England (EoE), to understand how members of the public had been involved. We also wanted to see how lay co-researchers found the use of a checklist developed to assess the reporting of PPI: the ‘Guidance for Reporting Involvement of Patients and the Public, Version 2’ (GRIPP2).

Members of a Public Involvement in Research group (PIRg), based at the University of Hertfordshire, were actively involved in the study, with four PIRg members becoming co-researchers. The GRIPP2 has a long form and short form, and we used these to review 16 research publications.

We found great variation in the PPI activities reported in the publications. The lay co-researchers thought the GRIPP2 short form was useful, but the long form was considered over complicated and not user-friendly. We recommend a revised version of the GRIPP2 short form, with clearer instructions, additional sections and training and support for patient and public reviewers.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40900-021-00295-w.