Participatory Action Research in Healthcare provides a guide to participatory action research in the community health setting. It draws upon the authors' experiences working, researching and engaging with people utilising collaborative, participatory approaches. The authors position participatory action research as a vital, dynamic and relevant approach that can be engaged by practitioners and health service providers. It is argued that participating with people is the way to move forward toward sustainable services that evoke human flourishing. Participatory Action Research in Healthcare explores the key issues surrounding participatory action research, and examines the benefits of this approach for community development and health promotion. It includes detailed guidelines on data generation and analysis.

This groundbreaking resource explores core issues in participatory health research (PHR) and traces its global emergence as a force for improving health and well-being, healthcare services, and quality of life. The PHR approach is defined as including community members, health practitioners, and decision-makers as co-researchers, using local knowledge to reduce disparities in care, advocate for responsive health policy, and accelerate positive change in society as a whole. The book’s first half surveys themes essential to the development of the field, including evaluating PHR projects, training professionals in conducting PHR, and the ambitious work of the International Collaboration for Participatory Health Research. International perspectives showcase the varied roles of PHR in addressing urgent local health problems in their specific public health and sociocultural contexts. Among the topics covered: Demonstrating impact in participatory health research Reviewing the effectiveness of participatory health research: challenges and possible solutions Kids in Action—participatory health research with children Participatory health research: an Indian perspective Participatory health research in Latin America: scientific production on chronic diseases Participatory health research in North America: from community engagement to evidence-informed practice Participatory Health Research benefits those teaching and learning about participatory health research at institutions of higher education and in community settings, addressing diverse fields including health promotion and disease prevention, medicine and public health, quality of life, social work, and community development.

Action Research in Healthcare is a practical guide to using research for improving practice in healthcare contexts. As an increasingly popular method of inquiry, action research is widely used in healthcare to investigate professional practice and patients' experience while simultaneously: - introducing innovations - planning, actioning and evaluating new ideas - seeking to improve patient care - working collaboratively. Taking you through the process step-by-step, Action Research in Healthcare explains how to tackle each stage of your project - from planning the study and undertaking a literature review, through to gathering and interpreting data and implementing findings. Examples of action research projects are included throughout to illustrate how the method works in practice. Action Research in Healthcare assumes no previous knowledge of the subject and is the ideal resource for anyone about to start or already involved in a project.

Hearing (Our) Voices describes two innovative participatory action research projects - one on communication with medical professionals, the other on housing - carried out by a group of people diagnosed with schizophrenia under the guidance of Professor Barbara Schneider. Participants designed the research, conducted interviews and focus groups, participated in data analysis, and disseminated research results through a number of innovative strategies including theatre performances, a documentary film, a graphic novel, and a travelling exhibit. Emerging from these projects is the central and significant finding that people diagnosed with schizophrenia are caught between their dependence on care and their longing for independent lives. The research presented in Hearing (Our) Voices points to a way to resolve this paradox and transform lives through the inclusion of people diagnosed with schizophrenia in research, in decision-making about their own treatment and housing, and in public discourse about schizophrenia.

Minkler and Wallerstein have pulled together a fantastic set of contributions from the leading researchers in the field. In addition to a fine collection of case studies, this book puts the key issues for researchers and practitioners in a historical, philosophical, and applied, practical context

Improving patient experience is a global priority for health policy-makers and care providers. This book critically examines the various ways in which people's experience of health and healthcare can be recorded, analysed and therefore improved.