Table 2 Consumer roles and identified impacts on outputs
Consumer roles (defined by role in review or organisation) | Consumer activities in review process | Consumer roles in increasing accessibility of reviews | Consumer roles in knowledge transfer | Impacts identified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Membership of editorial teams | Hand searching | Plain language summary preparation | Coordination of workshops, seminars and presentations on CRG activities during consumer organisation conferences | Use of consumer-oriented/more relevant outcomes |
Consumer coordination | Obtaining information | Removal of unfriendly jargon from synopses & other documentation | Participation in working groups | Changes in language – greater accessibility |
Review authorship | Peer review of protocols and reviews | Collaboration with external consumer organisations to publish synopses | Dissemination | Informing of/altering methodology |
Peer reviewer | Priority setting | Translation | Raising awareness of evidence-based healthcare | Adding “depth” to the review |
Advisory group member | Incorporation of patient-derived outcomes | Publication of synopses/other CRG documentation in languages other than English | Identifying the needs for non-professional consumer involvement | Better prioritisation of review topics |
Stakeholder (various stages) | Input into relevance of review question | Recruiting others | Increased relevance of review | |
Member of the public | Peer mentoring | Increased timeliness | ||
Training other consumers | Reduction in bias | |||
Input into funding bids | Broader and more inclusive literature searches | |||
Developing partnerships with other relevant organisations | More clearly defined research questions | |||
Contributions to newsletter | Identification of additional included studies | |||
Preparing decision aids for patients | Increased depth, relevance and usefulness of review | |||
Indirect benefits to all involved |