Patient Engagement
About This Cluster
Patient Engagement can be understood as meaningful and active collaboration in governance, priority setting, conducting research, and in summarizing, sharing, and putting the knowledge gained into action (i.e., knowledge translation). It is important to note the term ‘patient,’ as applied here, is overarching and inclusive, referring to people with lived or personal experience of health conditions or issues, the people who support them, such as family members, friends and informal caregivers, and the communities from which they belong.
Video | Intro to Patient Engagement
Cluster Themes




Projects in This Cluster
Projects are coded by colour to the themes listed above.
Bridging the digital divide and opening access to online research opportunities in youth and young adults living with mental illness in British Columbia
Project Leads: Skye Barbic & Shelly Ben-David
One in four young people in British Columbia (BC) experience a mental health issue each year. This project will develop methods to engage youth in health services research and system reform by exploring the digital divide. It has been identified that investments in health care technology may ... read more
Diverse Communities Facing Multiple Barriers to Engagement in Patient-Oriented Research
Project Leads: Davina Banner & Sue Mills
Healthcare services and organizations are working to better meet the needs of patients and communities. One way to achieve this is to involve patients in research studies that help health care professionals make good decisions. This has become widely known as patient-oriented research (POR). As this kind ... read more
Methods for Supporting Diverse Patient Engagement in a Diverse World: Co-Creation and Evaluation of Interactive Educational Modules
Project Leads: Erin Michalak, Steven Barnes
Online platforms can be a convenient, cost-effective and enjoyable way to learn about health research; however, not a lot of content is co-created by researchers and patients, which is a missed opportunity to potentially improve the quality of content and promote research engagement... read more
Patient-engaged priority setting and mental health data in the Okanagan Nation
Project Leads: Braden Te Hiwi & Okanagan Nation
The Okanagan Nation Alliance (ONA) has identified mental health as a priority area for its communities. ONA governance and administration of mental health is very challenging because of an absence of data, and at other times only incomplete or partially relevant data is available. This study seeks to ... read more
Cluster Lead

Erin Michalak
Dr. Michalak’s background is in psychology, with a PhD awarded from the University of Wales College of Medicine in the UK. Her research expertise lies in patient-engagement in research, Community-Based Participatory Research, knowledge translation, bipolar disorder, quality of life, eHealth/mHealth and implementation science.
To learn more about Erin click here