Participatory Research in Clinical Studies: An Innovative Approach to Co-creating Nutritional and Physical Activity Recommendations for Older Adults With Sarcopenia (FOOP-Sarc Project)

Abstract

Background: Participating in co-creation processes can improve the knowledge, satisfaction and healthcare outcomes of volunteers. However, this methodology is still underused in nutritional clinical studies.

Objective: This study aimed to use participatory research as an innovative approach to co-creating nutritional and physical activity (PA) recommendations for the FOOP-Sarc project and to assess their usability and volunteers' satisfaction and engagement experience (SEE) during the co-creation process.

Design: The co-creation process was based on four stages: (s1) co-ideation, (s2) co-design, (s3) co-implementation and (s4) co-evaluation (Ref.: NCT05485402).

Setting and participants: Thirteen volunteers with sarcopenia were included (stages 1-2 [n = 7], stage 3 [n = 3 intervention, n = 3 control] and stage 4 [n = 13]).

Measures: The co-ideation (s1) and co-design (s2) stages focused on designing recommendations adapted to the volunteers' preferences; the co-implementation (s3) stage included the implementation and comparison of the co-created or standard recommendations for 3 weeks to test the recommendations' acceptance; and the co-evaluation (s4) stage focused on usability, SEE, and adherence.

Results: The volunteers co-created recommendations for improving sarcopenia according to the barriers identified related to diet and PA. The recommendations' usability and the SEE of volunteers were high in all cases.

Conclusions: The participatory research approach used in this nutritional intervention study, demonstrates a high usability of the co-created recommendations for sarcopenia and high SEE of the volunteers, particularly in the volunteers who participated in co-ideation (s1) and co-design (s2), the most key stages of the co-creation process.

Patient or public contribution: The volunteers in this study participated in the co-creation of nutritional and PA recommendations to improve sarcopenia, which they must subsequently follow.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT05485402.

Keywords: co‐creation; nutrition; participatory research; physical activity; sarcopenia.