Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) in Health Economics Methodology Research: Reflections and Recommendations

Patient and public involvement (PPI) can be used in methods research, as well as applied research, in health economics. However, methods research goals may seem quite abstract when compared to the lived experiences of lay participants. This article draws on 4 years of PPI in a research project to develop methods for including family carer outcomes in economic evaluation. Key challenges in using PPI for health economics methods research relate to (1) training and preparation, (2) maintaining involvement, and (3) selecting suitable tasks. We suggest three criteria for selecting a research task for PPI input based on task importance, professional researcher skills gap, and potential PPI contribution.