Abstract
Background:Complex programs, with multiple components and stakeholders involved, are the norm rather than the exception in integrated care. With a focus on what works, for whom, why, and under what circumstances, Realist Evaluation (RE) offers a promising research paradigm to evaluate such programs in a transferable way. Furthermore, RE is highly participative: active involvement of program stakeholders is key to unearthing their perceptions about program functioning. The use of RE is growing steadily in social sciences. However, active stakeholder involvement and co-creation in RE may be challenging as experimental research paradigms are still quite dominant. Therefore, we have designed a workshop called Uncovering the black box: the potential of stakeholder engagement in Realist Evaluation. In this workshop, we have two aims: () to provide awareness and knowledge about RE, its potential and application to integrated care; (2) to give inspiration and practical tools for conducting RE in co-creation with different stakeholders. With the use of a co-creation tool called the hats of Bono we want to provide participants with more hands-on practice in realist thinking and give them ideas on how to co-create with their future stakeholders. The workshop will use four hats to elicit feelings, ideas, benefits, and critiques focused on realist statements from a real-life case in integrated care. More specifically, we will present a problem about an intervention functioning in shared decision-making support in general practice, particularly aimed at patients with low health literacy.
Audience:This workshop is intended for anyone interested in exploring research designs beyond traditional randomised controlled trials. It will be valuable for researchers developing and implementing complex programs and for professionals and citizens participating in studies.
Approach:The workshop will begin with a brief introduction to RE, including an example project and a question to gather the audience's experience level with RE (0 minutes). This will be followed by an explanation of co-creation in RE, focusing on the hats of Bono (0 minutes). Participants will then be divided into subgroups, each representing one of Bono's coloured hats, to examine a shared decision-making intervention from the perspective of a patient with low health literacy. The perspectives of this target are crucial in RE for integrated care. Each group will have 5 minutes to discuss their thoughts using their designated hat, with discussions facilitated by the workshop organisers. After the subgroup discussions, participants will come together for a plenary session where each group will present their findings, and the overall results will be discussed and visually displayed (20 minutes). We will end with a 5-minute closing and a reflection, asking the audience about what they learned about co-creation in RE.
Outcomes:Participants will gain a deeper understanding of the importance of stakeholder