Empowering Stigmatized Voices: Cocreating a Curriculum on Pain and Opioid Use Disorder With Patient Partners

This study explores the partnership experiences of patient and health care professional (HCP) subject matter experts (SMEs) in cocreating educational content and examines their reflections on how to better support educational partnerships in future initiatives.

In this qualitative, exploratory study, semistructured interviews of patient and HCP SMEs were conducted between February and August 2022. Interviews were conducted with videoconferencing software, audio recorded, and transcribed verbatim. Interviews were analyzed using an iterative, inductive approach informed by reflexive thematic analysis.

Eight patient SMEs and 6 HCP SMEs were interviewed. Three themes and 8 subthemes were developed to represent SMEs' experiences. The overarching themes included (1) building authentic partnerships, (2) developing equitable partnership processes, and (3) setting the stage for successful cocreation. Authentic partnerships were conceptualized as relationships that foster meaningful engagement, provide opportunities for learning and growing together, and require navigation of tensions and constraints. Equitable partnership processes included creating shared expectations and facilitating open and clear communication among partners. Participants discussed how future partnerships can benefit by embracing diversity and innovation, encouraging sustained engagement, and facilitating high-quality processes and products.

The findings of this study highlight that positive cocreation experiences are characterized by building authentic partnerships, developing equitable partnership processes, and setting the stage for successful cocreation. Future work can build on these findings to further explore how to best foster cocreation within educational partnerships.