On September 22, 2022, the Public Engagement in Health Policy project team at McMaster University hosted a one-day conference, Reimagining public engagement in a changing world. Community members, engagement practitioners, researchers, and policymakers gathered virtually and in person to discuss the opportunities and pitfalls of public engagement and to envision a way forward. Attendees explored questions such as, what does it mean to engage with communities ethically? How can researchers use new approaches to engagement to tackle contemporary health policy issues with communities? And what are the roots of mistrust between communities and researchers/policymakers?
The day opened with Dr. Jamila Michener, Associate Professor of Government and Public Policy at Cornell University. In her keynote presentation, she shared enriching insights on public engagement at the intersections of power, poverty, public policy and racism. Transformative and impactful public engagement continues to be hindered by a range of problems from insufficient resources to structural disincentives. Research must not only seek to avoid tokenism, to meaningfully create space for people to participate; it must also be reflexive. Researchers have a critical role in radically transforming engagement by understanding how their positionality affects their work. They should begin their work by asking: who am I, what are my values, what is my position and role? This reflexivity is essential as it shapes the very research questions we ask and our rationale for engaging with communities. It is from this intersectional lens that Dr. Michener proposed the values of equity, dignity, and democracy as anchors for ethical public engagement.
- Excerpt from a blog post written by Joanna Massie, Roma Dhamanaskar, and Rana Saleh
-----------------
This series is supported by the Public Engagement in Health Policy project, which promotes research, critical reflection and dialogue about engagement issues that have a health and health policy focus. Learn more about this Future of Canada project at engagementinhealthpolicy.ca
[download transcript]
-----------------
Links:
Webinar Extra: Paula Rowland presents Dilemmas of Representation for BPER
Patient-Oriented to Patient-Partnered: Aspirations, Implications, Challenges
Webinar Extra: Podcasts and Patient Engagement - with SPORcast, PEP Talks and Matters of Engagement
Walking a Tightrope: Inside the Engagement Professional Role, with Kelli Dilworth
Research Ethics Boards and Patient Partnership
Engaging in Storytelling, Part 3: "Creating Spaces for Storytellers" - produced by PEP Talks
Engaging in Storytelling, Part 2: "Organizations and Patient Stories" - produced by Matters of Engagement
Engaging in Storytelling, Part 1: "The Patient Story Experience - Cost or Benefit?" by SPORcast"
Vagueness of language, unarticulated assumptions, and maintaining the status quo. With Amy Katz and Melody Morton Ninomiya
Patient Experience as Evidence, with Miles Sibley
Hosts Jennifer and Emily learn to "let go of perfection"
Lived Experience, with Katherine Dib and Katie Birnie of SKIP
Policy development in a pandemic - is there a role for patient partners? With Julie Drury and Christa Haanstra
Reflections on Engagement, with Lorraine, Maureen, Keith and Jess
Evaluating Holland Bloorview's Family Leadership Program, with Aman Sium
Evaluating Patient Engagement, A Conversation with Julia Abelson
Compensation, with Zal Press and Dawn P. Richards
Democratic patient-led councils, the rise of patient engagement, and the erosion of advocacy - with Lucy Costa
Dilemmas of Representation, with Paula Rowland
Expertise Part 2, with Francine Buchanan
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Poetry of Science
Behavioral Grooves Podcast
Hidden Brain
Proxy with Yowei Shaw
Invisibilia