Active Patient Engagement: Long Overdue in Rehabilitation Research

Patients offer a valuable contribution to developing and improving clinical care.Current foundations and strategies, including the Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement and Canada's Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research, are focused on ways to engage patients' in the development of health services.Furthermore, there is a body of literature reporting on engaging patients in decision-making and policies to promote care delivered across acute settings 1 .In comparison, patient engagement in research has received little attention 2 .The concept of actively involving patients in research is more recent.Patients' role in research has evolved from one which is passive, representing a data point, to one which is active and involves contributing to the research process.According to the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR), 'patient engagement' refers to the meaningful collaboration of patients in the conduct of research and is now a requirement of any application for funding 3 .The CIHR recommends integrating the 'patient perspective' into every step of the research process ranging from conceptualization of a research idea and protocol development through to translation of the research findings into clinical practice.Lessons regarding the involvement of patients in research can be gained from other countries.INVOLVE is a government funded program, supporting active patient engagement in health research across the UK 4 .However, the description of how patients have contributed to the research process is usually only briefly described in published research papers, if at all and therefore the full impact of their involvement is seldom fully understood.Studies need to routinely report detailed information about the method of engaging patients in research and the impact of such engagement on outcomes and continuing research enquiry 3 .