Using community based participatory research as a method for investigating electronic health records

One information source for the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record is the consumer repository. This paper reports on the use of community based participatory research, as a project method, derived from an initiative where people with complex chronic conditions and their carers attended a rural health promotion and lifestyle modification program. Through co-operative inquiry embedded in the research approach, health promotion workers and their clients were actively supported to adopt and use the PCEHR as an intervention. Simultaneously they were encouraged to reflect on its design, mechanisms for its implementation and their perceptions of its overall impact on consumer's ability to self-manage complex conditions.