Background

Public involvement in the UK has increased in accordance with funding requirements and patient-centred health policy initiatives and the reporting of the positive impact of public involvement for those involved, research and researchers. However, public involvement has not been implemented equally across all disease areas and populations. The aim of this process was to involve rugby players as sports participants across the research cycle of a player health study, ensure the study is player-centred, and that players had approved and informed the design of the study and its questionnaire from their playing experiences.

Methods

Two fora were undertaken with current students who were playing rugby at a Collegiate University. All male and female University rugby players and two College rugby teams were approached to become involved. Sessions were chaired by a player-lead using a topic guide and were audio-recorded and transcribed. Player suggestions were extracted by the player lead and discussed within the study team for inclusion in the player health study and its questionnaire.

Results

Players readily engaged with the sessions and made many contributions to the development of the study and the questionnaire. Players discussed whether certain topics were being collected satisfactorily, and whether the questionnaire would encompass their playing experiences or that of other players. Players suggested where answers might be less reliable, and ways in which this could be improved. Players recommended additions to the questionnaire, and questioned researchers on the choice of language, motivation for question inclusion and if measures were standardised or novel.

Conclusions

Involving a group of sports participants in the design of a player health study and questionnaire was not an arduous process and was rewarding for researchers. The process resulted in numerous alterations to the questionnaire and its functionality, which may improve response rate but will more importantly improve the experience of players participating in this study. Player involvement in research was feasible to implement and improved not only the questionnaire but also researcher confidence in the project and that player experience was being accurately captured and leading a reliable, optimal data collection process in this unique population.