Förder- und Rahmenbedingungen für Partizipative Gesundheitsforschung aus Projektsicht

Participatory Health Research is a unique research approach that needs unique funding conditions. In April 2020, the German journal Gesundheitswesen published an article that recommends reasonable measures for funding Participatory Health Research. Some of the aspects mentioned are illustrated in the present article with practical examples. Three examples of experiences are introduced to explain the manifold and different conditions for applying for funds for participatory research projects. Example 1 shows good cooperation between the applicant and funder, allowing participatory processes. The conditions for funding in example 2 – despite being focused on participatory involvement – did not allow effective participation. Example 3 deals with the personal, legitimate research interests of affected people, who are only partially reflected in the current funding landscape and hardly receive any funding. The experiences regarding the funding of participatory research are quite different. There are positive cases, however experiences in which applicants meet obstacles that hinder participative collaboration prevail. This particularly concerns the joint development of research tenders (issues, research questions, design) by all relevant stakeholders. Therefore, to effectively foster participatory health research, more calls for proposals are needed that are flexible, have prolonged application periods, allow multilevel funding, and are open to nonacademic stakeholders.