Motivators and Barriers to Research Participation in Adult Burns Survivors

Adults living with burn injury often experience ongoing physical, social, and psychological impacts, yet relatively little is known about how these experiences shape their decisions to participate in burns-related research. This qualitative study aimed to explore the barriers and motivators of research participation among 24 adult burn survivors who took part in a two-hour Community Conversation using a condensed World Café approach. Thematic analysis generated five themes describing motivators (19 sub-themes) and four themes describing barriers (14 sub-themes). Willingness to participate in burn research was dependent on context and how research demands were experienced by individuals. Novel insights included early engagement during hospitalisation; the influence of inspirational leadership and institutional "brand equity" on willingness to participate; and comparison and benchmarking, where survivors compared their outcomes with others as a source of motivation and validation. Participants also articulated practical, experience-based solutions, positioning burn survivors as partners in shaping feasible and acceptable research. Collectively, these findings highlight how burn survivors' unique care pathways and recovery experiences shape participation in ways that extend broader clinical research literature. These insights can inform flexible, relational, trauma-informed participation approaches embedded within the realities of burn recovery.