The point-giving course in user participation in medical and healthcare research was held at the Eitri Health Incubator at Haukeland Hospital.
From REMEDY, adviser Marianne Skaar has participated in the program committee and as a facilitator.
- Neuro-Sysmed and UiB have generously included the partners in the course and have put in extensive work for a good course, says Skaar. The Neuro-SysMed research center in Bergen and UiB have run courses in medical and health-related research for PhD fellows, researchers and user assistants for a few years.
REMEDY is a partner in the course
From this year, the research centers Matrix (cancer research), NorHEAD (headache research), FORMI/OUS and REMEDY have been invited as partners in the course, together with NorCrin.
Altogether, there were 86 registered, including both research fellows (who received 2 ECTS points for participation) and researchers and user assistants. Three of the REMEDY patient council members participated in the course, Trine Amalie Sjøvold, Trine Knudtzon and Kristin Isabella Kirkengen Espe.
The user assistants who took part in the course were also invited to a digital pre-meeting on concepts, the research process and methods in health research.
The course had academic presentations and group work on roles, definitions, user participation in research and recruitment of user contributors. Another theme was communication and language in the collaboration. Experience sharing from collaboration in research projects where the researcher/scholarship and user assistants shared the strengths and challenges of the collaboration.
Experiences from research
Research fellow Kristine Røren Nordén from REMEDY and user assistant Jon Skandsen from the REMEDY patient council shared their experiences from the collaboration in the ExeHeart study.
- It was a useful exercise that gave more insight into how the research process can benefit from user participation, says Nordén
A new course will be organized in 2025.
- We welcome PhD fellows, researchers and user assistants associated with the REMEDY research center to participate, says Marianne Skaar enthusiastically.
New course dates will be announced as soon as they are ready.
The National Association for Public Health has been responsible for the application for funds. The DAM foundation has financed the course with NOK 400,000 to buy out people for the preparation and implementation of the course. The funds go towards a pilot and implementation of the course for two years.
