Participatory research methods: people with learning difficulties.

Abstract

The use of participatory research methods as a means of empowering disadvantaged and oppressed groups or individuals has attracted increasing interest in recent years. This article critically examines the use of such methods to empower people with learning difficulties as co-researchers. Emancipatory research would, by definition, be led and processed by people with learning difficulties. For the time being, however, the possibility of engaging people with learning difficulties in truly emancipatory nursing research is regarded as highly problematic, since it assumes empowerment as a precondition. As a step towards emancipatory research, participatory research represents a radical shift in the research process. It may potentially strengthen the voice of people with learning difficulties and enable them to express their views on nursing. The author proposes a methodology which addresses a number of critical issues facing the nurse researcher. It is a step towards developing more liberating and emancipatory methodologies.