Patient Partner Perspectives: The Experience of Participating in a Co-Designed Virtual Reality Project.

Area of Science:

• Patient and Public Involvement in Research
• Health Communication
• Digital Health Technologies

Background:

• Patient partners (PP) offer valuable lived experiences for healthcare research.
• Authentic and collaborative engagement is crucial for effective patient involvement.
• Understanding patient experiences with COVID-19 is vital for improving care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the experiences of patient partners involved in co-designing a virtual reality (VR) video.
• To identify facilitators and barriers to patient partner engagement in a VR project.
• To understand the impact of participation on patient partners.

Main Methods:

• Thematic analysis of interview transcripts from 4 patient partners.
• Qualitative evaluation of patient partner experiences in a VR video co-design project.
• Focus on co-design and patient-centered knowledge generation.

Main Results:

• Patient partners were motivated by a desire to contribute to the community and help others affected by COVID-19.
• Participation led to positive experiences and impacts for the patient partners.
• Key facilitators included feeling heard, valued, and respected; barriers included time commitment and health status.

Conclusions:

• Patient partner engagement in co-designing health communication tools can be highly beneficial.
• Ensuring patients feel valued and respected is critical for successful engagement.
• Addressing potential barriers like time and health is important for sustained patient involvement in research.