Umbrella Review: COVID-19 Public Health Measures and Patient and Public Involvement in Health and Social Care Research

Abstract

Background:

Patient and public involvement (PPI) in health research refers to patients and other members of the public with relevant experience contributing to design, implementation, and dissemination of research. PPI entails research being carried out ‘with’ or ‘by’ members of the public, rather than ‘to’, ‘about’ or ‘for’ them. Over the past decade, there has been an increased emphasis on the importance of PPI in health and social research as it provides alternative views and insights into the needs of healthcare users to improve the quality and relevance of research. PPI enhances the efficiency, design, and quality of healthcare initiatives and facilitates decision-making regarding resource allocations and the usability of services by including information about the capabilities, needs, and priorities of local people. The rapid response to the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in PPI being viewed as non-essential, leading to its minimal inclusion in research and, thereby, minimizing the contribution of patients, the public, and, particularly, minority groups in helping find solutions to the pandemic crisis. Public health measures (PHM) aim to reduce the transmission, severity of illness, and death and are critical strategies to address pandemic outbreaks, therefore, PPI is crucial in building trust and acceptance in research, greater benefits for the community, new and improved services, valuable changes in practice/partnership leading to positive changes and outcomes.