Abstract:

In the following paper, the question of how to do participatory research in times of crisis in a caring way is addressed. What are the opportunities, challenges, and consequences of a participatory research process in nursing in the midst of a global pandemic? While a participatory research design is usually very attractive because it promises a more democratic and equitable design process, doing participatory research in the midst of a worldwide pandemic may also become an extra burden to an already fragmented research process – due to distance rules and digital research settings. Many participatory research projects in the care sector struggle not only with digital distance and the need for ad hoc changes in their research design but especially with the unavailability of their co-researchers – at least face-to-face. Therefore, we focus on the aspect of accessibility and ask how it becomes possible to attract co-researchers from the heavily pressured care sector and bring in their expertise into the technical design process in a caring way during a worldwide pandemic. We will discuss our findings in light of our research in the joint project "Digital Academy of Nursing 4.0"*, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany (BMBF). Following a participatory research design, the research project aims to develop a digital platform to enable teachers, practical instructors and nursing students nationwide to teach in digital formats. Target groups – teachers, practice instructors and students – are involved as a "community of practice" in the participatory formation of online learning units and tools. Thus, a consideration of the demands and necessities of the future user-group is ensured. In this paper, we aim to provide insights into the joint project “Digital Academy of Nursing 4.0”, discuss chances, challenges and consequences of doing participative research in times of crisis and introduce digital formats of participation that aim to motivate, engage and train target groups while at the same time bringing them back into the research field.

*Funding number: 01PG200004

Keywords:

Participatory research, participative design, care, nursing, education, e-learning.