National Disability Insurance Agency

Through the eyes of 28 mothers, this article reports on research that explored the strengths and challenges of caring for children with physical disabilities in Bangladesh. An interpretive phenomenological approach was adopted. The study revealed that while mothers bore the brunt of domestic and caring work, their symbiotic relationship with their children brought joy and ultimately resilience. The intersection of multiple oppressed identities linked to gender, motherhood, disability, poverty, cultural beliefs, and religion powerfully combined; while mothers struggled, did cope and manage. Rather than remaining fragile without voice, agency or hope, mothers were driven by a deep love for their children, and they emerged as ‘warriors’. They not only survived society’s harsh challenges but became inventive, creative disability advocates for their children.

Abstract BackgroundResearch co-production is an umbrella term used to describe research users and researchers working together to generate knowledge. Research co-production is used to create knowledge that is relevant to current challenges and to increase uptake of that knowledge into practice, programs, products, and/or policy. Yet, rigorous theories and methods to assess the quality of co-production are limited. Here we describe a framework for assessing the quality of research co-production – Research Quality Plus for Co-Production (RQ+ 4 Co-Pro) – and outline our field test of this approach.MethodsUsing a co-production approach, we aim to field test the relevance and utility of the RQ+ 4 Co-Pro framework. To do so we will recruit participants who have led research co-production projects from the international Integrated Knowledge Translation Research Network. We aim to sample 16 to 20 co-production project leads, assign these participants to dyadic groups (8 to 10 dyads), train each participant in the RQ+ 4 Co-Pro framework using deliberative workshops and oversee a simulation assessment exercise using RQ+ 4 Co-Pro within dyadic groups. To study this experience, we use a qualitative design to collect participant demographic information and project demographic information, and will use in-depth semi-structured interviews to collect data related to the experience each participant has using the RQ+ 4 Co-Pro framework.DiscussionThis study will yield knowledge about a new way to assess research co-production. Specifically, it will address the relevance and utility of using RQ+ 4 Co-Pro, a framework that includes context as an inseparable component of research, identifies dimensions of quality matched to the aims of co-production, and applies a systematic and transferable evaluative method for reaching conclusions. This is a needed area of innovation for research co-production to reach its full potential. The findings may benefit co-producers interested in understanding the quality of their work, but also other stewards of research co-production. Accordingly, we undertake this study as a co-production team representing multiple perspectives from across the research enterprise, such as: funders, journal editors, university administrators, and government and health organization leaders.

One of the issues limiting prevention of elder abuse in Australia is lack of a strong evidence base to target social drivers of abuse, particularly ageism. This evidence gap is exacerbated by social discourses that perpetuate negative representations of older age as a time of vulnerability and physical decline, often in opposition to people’s actual experience of ageing. This article presents findings of the ‘OPERA Project’, which used co-designed digital storytelling to explore how ageing and ageism are perceived by older people. The project findings indicated that preventing elder abuse requires discursive intervention to combat negative social discourses representing older people, and to frame social acceptance of the inherent complexity of experiences of ageing. Using a social constructionist approach, this article puts forward a ‘middle path’ through traditional theories of ageing and associated ‘positive ageing’ discourses, which often problematise ageing itself.