The Value of Peer Research: A Peer Perspective

In recent years, an increasing number of drug-related research projects have used community-based participatory methods by collaborating with peer researchers with lived and living experience. A number of systematic and scoping reviews have emphasized the potential benefits of prioritizing meaningful engagement with individuals and communities who have lived and have living experience with the topics, phenomena and problems researchers seek to study. In this presentation Christos Anastasiou, project manager with the European Network of People Who Use Drugs will discuss the value for academics, in engaging in participatory research practices, including in research design, participant recruitment, data collection and analysis. Touching on his experiences from projects he has been involved in as a peer researcher, he will highlight the immediate, tangible benefits, including: 1) enhanced trust from research participants, 2) increased validity and accuracy of findings, 3) increased sensitivity with regards to language used, 4) capacity people amongst people who use drugs, 5) increased practical and policy relevance of the findings.