Engaging Patient Stakeholders in Planning, Implementing, and Disseminating Occupational Therapy Research

Patients1 are experts on their own lives and the ways in which an illness, injury, or disability affects their health, activity, and quality of life. With its longstanding foundations in participatory action research, patient engagement has been gaining momentum across health care and related research. This momentum is supported by investments from several key research and federal policy–related organizations, including the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Occupational therapy practitioners are uniquely positioned to champion patient collaborations. In this article, we discuss ways in which patient perspectives can be embraced in occupational therapy research, and we share insights from a research planning collaborative with adolescents and young adults that was led by occupational therapy researchers.