Abstract

Participatory approaches to research are gaining increased popularity as efficacious methods for conducting health research and research with minority populations. Recently, there has been growing recognition within the research community of the need to engage with the autistic community and other stakeholders not only as research participants, but as active and equal partners in the research process. In Australia, the Cooperative Research Centre for Living with Autism (Autism CRC) has been at the forefront of this movement with their commitment to investing in inclusive and participatory autism research, and have implemented strategies to encourage research co-production. However, to date it has been unclear whether the Autism CRC’s goal of inclusive research practice has translated into genuine engagement with community partners throughout the process of Autism CRC funded research projects. | This study aimed to examine the nature and extent of community partner engagement within research projects funded by the Autism CRC, by gathering perspectives from both academic and community partners involved in Autism CRC research. We investigated questions such as: are Autism CRC researchers engaging with community partners? If so, how often, and with which community stakeholders? How effective do they perceive this engagement to be? In addition, we aimed to examine whether community and academic partners hold similar or differing perspectives of the nature and extent of community engagement within Autism CRC research.

Citation

Den Houting, J., & Pellicano, L. (2019). Examining the engagement of community partners in autism research within the Autism CRC [Poster]. International Society for Autism Research 2019 Annual Meeting, 1 May. International Society for Autism Research.

Project

Participatory Autism Research within Autism CRC and beyond