Involving older people in health and social care research: an example from the PEOPPLE Project

Involving older people in research that affects them can yield many benefits, but in most cases involvement is ‘top-down’ through consultations on pre-decided research topics. As such, ‘important’ issues are usually researcher driven and may not address research areas that would truly impact on older people’s lives. Consequently, a ‘bottom-up’ approach is considered best practice, because older people lead and shape the research by formulating research questions, and working as part of the research team to answer them.
We present the PEOPPLE (Putting Evidence for Older People into Practice in Living Environments) Project, which has fostered partnerships and meaningful engagement with older people in Portsmouth to identify and prioritize research questions tailored to meet their needs as identified by them. The research process consists of four dynamic, active phases aiming to put local solutions in place to address unmet needs. These include identifying important, relevant issues; establishing research questions based on these needs; synthesis of evidence base to determine feasible practical projects; projects carried out to establish or evaluate local solutions.
The PEOPPLE approach is meaningful. The research has benefited from listening to the lived experiences of older people to produce relevant, tangible solutions. Older people, our partners, have felt empowered and able to do something for their community as well as meeting others and sharing tips and resources. Without them, the objectives of the PEOPPLE Project could not be achieved.