JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Participatory research (PR) involves engaging in co-creation with end-users and relevant stakeholders throughout the research process, aiming to distribute power equitably between the end-users and research team. Engagement and adherence within previous workplace health promotion (WHP) studies has been shown to be lacking. By implementing a PR approach, the insights of end-users and stakeholders are sought in the co-design of feasible and acceptable intervention strategies, thereby increasing the relevance of the research.

Objective:

This scoping review aims to explore, identify, and map PR techniques and their impact when used in office-based WHP interventions designed to improve physical activity (PA) and/or reduce sedentary behaviour (SB).

Methods:

The reporting of this scoping review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews. A systematic literature search of five electronic databases: Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar and OpenGrey was completed, searching from the 1st of January 1995 to the 8th of February 2023. Two independent reviewers screened the retrieved articles by title and abstract first, followed by the full text based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The search strategy and eligibility criteria were developed and guided by an a priori PICO framework, which was: (P: population) office-based working adults, (I: intervention) a PA WHP intervention that took a PR approach, (C: comparison) no comparison required and, (O: outcome) PA and/or SB as an outcome. Data was charted and discussed via a narrative synthesis and a thematic analysis was conducted. The included studies were evaluated using Arnstein’s Ladder of Citizen for the degree of engagement throughout the research process and power shared with end-users.

Results:

The search retrieved 376 records, of which eight met the inclusion criteria. Four key strategies were identified: (1) end-user focus groups; (2) management involvement; (3) researcher facilitator and (4) workplace champions. Whilst the degree of engagement and power shared was relatively low, with two studies determined to be non-participation, two tokenistic and four to provide citizen power.

Conclusions:

This review provides a foundation of evidence on the current practices when taking a PR approach and highlights that previous office based, PA WHP studies have been largely tokenistic or non-participative and has identified that the end-user is only engaged with in the conception and implementation of the WHP studies. However, a positive improvement in PA and reduction in SB was observed in the included studies, which was largely attributed to implementing a PR approach and incorporating the end-user in the design of the WHP intervention. Future studies should aim to collaborate with the workplaces, building capacity and empowering the workforce by providing citizen control and letting the end users “own” the research for a sustainable WHP. Clinical Trial: A protocol was published prospectively to the search, data extraction and the completion of this scoping review. The scoping review protocol can be found here (doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-054402).