Consumer and community involvement in preventive health: current insights and considerations for future best practice

Bonnie Brammall; Helena Teede; Ashley Ng; Rhonda Garad; Sandy Reeder; Angela Jones; Cheryce Harrison

doi:10.1071/phrp3412403

RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

Consumer and community involvement in preventive health: current insights and considerations for future best practice

Bonnie Brammall ^A , Helena Teede ^A , Ashley Ng ^A ^B , Rhonda Garad ^A , Sandy Reeder ^A ^B , Angela Jones ^B and Cheryce Harrison ^A ^*

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation, Monash University in partnership with Monash Health, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

^B Monash Partners Academic Health Science Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

^* Correspondence to: cheryce.harrison@monash.edu

Public Health Research and Practice 34, e3412403 https://doi.org/10.17061/phrp3412403

Published: 4 April 2024

2024 © Brammall et al. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence, which allows others to redistribute, adapt and share this work non-commercially provided they attribute the work and any adapted version of it is distributed under the same Creative Commons licence terms.

Abstract

Consumer and community involvement (CCI) in preventive research and health initiatives is not only encouraged but is expected within a rapidly evolving landscape across health policy, practice and research. Here, we summarise the fundamental principles of CCI, as well as outline the barriers and current developments in working towards best practices at organisational and systems levels. CCI stands at a critical juncture. Best practice emphasises meaningful partnerships with consumers and communities to deliver impactful research and prevention activities, yet complex challenges and systematic barriers remain. We need further evidence to demonstrate both ‘what’ and ‘how’ CCI should be best implemented in these settings. We present key considerations for researchers, organisations and systems to catalyse the transition of CCI from mere recognition of its importance to pragmatic and optimum implementation and, ultimately, to systemic reform. These include changes to capacity building, funding structures, equitable engagement and transparent evaluation. These must be underpinned by evidence-based approaches, partnership, trust and broad consensus processes to achieve meaningful and impactful CCI in research and healthcare improvement through a lens of inclusivity.

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