Abstract
Co-design provides a meaningful way to engage patients in research. However, there is limited practical guidance. We used our co-design project to identify strategies for other researchers. An ethnographic case study design was used. Data included participant observation of co-design meetings, meeting minutes, analytic fieldnotes, qualitative patient interviews, and research team member self-reflections. Additionally, we got external feedback. We analyzed data iteratively. Our team included 5 patients and 6 researchers. We identified 3 strategies to include patients in co-design: (1) Deliberately build the team, from recruiting patients to specifying roles. (2) Tailor the meeting format to thoughtfully use patients' time and expertise. (3) Disrupt traditional hierarchies, to empower patients to actively participate. Researchers seeking to include patients as team members should consider: team composition and roles, leveraging meeting formats to optimize contributions and purposefully creating a culture of collaboration, so patient expertise informs the end product. Our work provides practical guidance for researchers to incorporate patient expertise in the co-design process and meaningfully involve them in their work.