CAPA is a not-for-profit organization made up of and by people living with arthritis. We support people living with arthritis by providing education and support and advocating to government to ensure policies meet the needs of our community. We also act as advisors or patient partners in research by providing input and advice based on our own lived experiences to research teams. As a patient partner in research, you can be involved in different ways like helping develop research questions important to patients and giving advice through the various stages of a project through to the translation of the research knowledge to the patient community.

About the program

We are looking to expand the community of patient partners in research and launching a research training program for new patient partners. This free program involves:

• Completing four on-line training modules independently (you will receive a certificate of completion for each module you complete) within the requested timelines
  • These online modules were co-developed by CIHR’s Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis (IMHA) with patient partners, and include the following
    • An introduction to patient engagement in research
    • Understanding the research process
    • Setting up a research project for successful partnership
    • Being part of a research team.
• Attending one to two virtual meetings (about an hour for each meeting) to share experiences and ask questions about the training modules
• Interacting with an experienced patient partner who will be assigned as a mentor to enhance your learning
• Contributing to discussions and seeking advice from a mentor using an on-line platform (we will be using Basecamp and will provide support in learning how to use this application)
• Providing constructive feedback about your experiences with the training and mentoring, e.g., completing evaluation surveys
• Dedicating time to participate in the program on a volunteer basis (it is expected to take 3-4 hours to complete the on-line training modules)

Upon completion of the program, we will actively promote and match successful individuals with interested researchers.  Once you are matched with a research team, the team will provide you with supports to be included, which may include compensation or other recognition depending on your personal circumstances. As much as possible, we will attempt to match you with an experienced patient partner to support your ongoing learning in research projects.

Invitation

If you are interested in participating in this program, please email or send a short video to contact@arthritispatient.ca by August 1, 2022, with some information about yourself including:

• Why you’re interested in participating in this patient partner research training;
• How you see yourself contributing to arthritis research (skills, experience, or perspectives);
• Where you live;
• Any community affiliation that you wish to share (e.g., a particular ethno-cultural community, LGBTQ2S+, youth). Note that this is not required.

• Any other information you think would be important for us to know about you and your motivation to participate.

Please note that preference will be given to people with arthritis who have had little to no previous experience in being involved as a patient partner in arthritis research. Contact us by e-mail if you have any questions about the training opportunity and/or applying.

We will contact all individuals who apply to let you know whether or not we can offer you a spot in this version of the training program. Thank you in advance for your interest in participating.