PCORI requires that its funded projects meaningfully engage patients and other stakeholders throughout the research process. Engagement with patients and those who care for them ensures that study results are more relevant for decision making, and thus, more likely to be taken up in practice. But we know that while engaging patients and stakeholders has many benefits for the projects and those who participate, for some researchers it remains new and unfamiliar and can seem challenging.

One of the ways that PCORI supports researchers, patients, and stakeholder partners working together is promoting the uptake of engagement practices and methodologies within the broader healthcare research community. That’s why we are excited to share our new Engagement Tool and Resource Repository for Patient-Centered Outcomes Research (PCOR), which we developed to help spread these practices.

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This peer-to-peer repository houses more than 150 tools and resources—that number will increase over time—that can be used to inform the work of others in the field when planning and conducting PCOR. These tools were generated from PCORI-funded research projects, Engagement Awards, and other relevant stakeholder resources, and cover a wide range of focus areas, clinical conditions, populations, and more.

We hope this centralized resource helps research teams and their partners work better together. To help you find tools that are most relevant to your work, every resource is tagged based on key characteristics, including tool type, intended phase of research, initial health and population focus, and more. These tags also allow users to search the repository using keywords and phrases to find tools that will best meet their needs at any phase of a project, regardless of their engagement approach. Users can also utilize the keyword search box to find tools and resources by other parameters of interest.

Tools were included in this repository only if they met specific criteria, including usefulness, adaptability, and ability to demonstrate some success in real-world settings. For instance, a team looking for ideas on how to train patient partners on the principles and methods of PCOR will find several examples of trainings developed for this purpose in the educational materials section. Teams interested in reviewing examples of stakeholder advisory board charters will find several that have been used in practice in the team management section. We believe that these practice-based tools will enable valuable peer learning opportunities for individuals and organizations.

PCORI-Funded Awardees: If you would like to submit a tool developed through a PCORI-funded project for potential inclusion in the repository, please send your submission to [email protected].