Gillison Fiona, Cooney Geraldine, Woolhouse Valerie, Davies Angie, Dickens Fiona, Marno Penny
Department for Health, University of Bath, Bath, UK.
Public contributor, Swindon, UK.
Res Involv Engagem. 2017 Nov 1;3:22. doi: 10.1186/s40900-017-0072-0. eCollection 2017.
This study reports on the process of conducting participatory research by training peer researchers to conduct interviews and analyse data collected with parents of overweight children. The methodology was chosen as a means of (a) encouraging participation among a hard-to-engage group (i.e., parents of overweight children), and (b) generating novel insights and challenging academic/health professional assumptions through the involvement of parents in the interpretation of findings.
Four parents (all female) were recruited as peer researchers and trained in research processes, ethics, and interview skills over three half-day workshops. The intended interviewees were parents of children identified as obese through the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) at the start of primary school (age 4-5) but who had lost their excess weight by age 10-11; little is currently known about how this excess weight loss is achieved. Interviews were conducted by peer researchers, transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically by both peer- and university-based investigators.
The peer researchers felt confident to conduct interviews after three training sessions. Recruitment of interviewees was challenging, resulting in only four volunteers (all mothers) over a 5-month period; thus peer researchers were only able to conduct one interview each. All interviews were considered good quality in comparison to those conducted by Masters-level research assistants. The process of co-analysis resulted in a change in emphasis from that initially generated by the university research team; the role of health professionals in weight management was de-emphasised, and the importance of 'not singling out' overweight children accentuated. Given the limited number of interviews, the results of the study are only provisional but resulted in three themes: Whole Family Action, Support (and lack of support), and Protecting Childhood.
Training peer researchers to conduct and analyse interviews was feasible within a short period of training. Peer researchers found the experience interesting, informative and worthwhile. Two of the four volunteered to be involved in a related study 12 months later. The different perspective brought through co-analysis suggests that this approach to conducting participatory research may be a useful means of working with the public to generate new ideas to tackle intransigent issues.
本研究报告了开展参与式研究的过程，即培训同伴研究者进行访谈并分析与超重儿童家长收集的数据。选择该方法的目的在于：（a）鼓励难以参与的群体（即超重儿童的家长）参与进来；（b）通过让家长参与研究结果的解读，产生新颖的见解并挑战学术/健康专业人员的假设。
招募了四位家长（均为女性）作为同伴研究者，并通过三个半天的工作坊对她们进行研究过程、伦理和访谈技巧方面的培训。预定的访谈对象是那些孩子在小学入学时（4至5岁）通过国家儿童测量计划（NCMP）被确定为肥胖，但在10至11岁时体重已恢复正常的家长；目前对于如何实现这种体重减轻知之甚少。访谈由同伴研究者进行，逐字记录，并由同伴研究者和大学研究人员进行主题分析。
经过三次培训后，同伴研究者对进行访谈充满信心。招募受访者具有挑战性，在5个月的时间里仅得到了四名志愿者（均为母亲）；因此，每位同伴研究者只能进行一次访谈。与硕士水平的研究助理进行的访谈相比，所有访谈的质量都被认为很高。共同分析的过程导致重点从大学研究团队最初提出的重点发生了转变；健康专业人员在体重管理中的作用被淡化，而“不单独挑出”超重儿童的重要性得到了强调。鉴于访谈数量有限，该研究的结果只是初步的，但得出了三个主题：全家行动、支持（以及缺乏支持）和保护童年。
在短时间内培训同伴研究者进行访谈和分析是可行的。同伴研究者认为这种经历有趣、信息丰富且有价值。四位中有两位在12个月后自愿参与了一项相关研究。共同分析带来的不同视角表明，这种开展参与式研究的方法可能是与公众合作以产生解决棘手问题新想法的有用方式。
