We need your help!
Earlier this year, we asked the MuSE Consortium to help us identify options for
replacing the term 'stakeholder'. In our MuSE work, we previously used "stakeholder" to refer to "any individual or group who is responsible for or affected by health- and healthcare-related decisions that may be informed by research evidence". We recognized a number of negative historical uses of the word "stakeholder", such as its mercenary roots as the person who held the stakes in a bet or its colonial roots in which a stakeholder was the person who drove a stake into the land to demarcate the land they were occupying/stealing from Indigenous territories.
We are currently finalizing protocols for a series of reviews for our MuSE-Evidence Synthesis project and need your help to choose the word that will describe those with whom we aim to engage (the 11Ps, see below). There is no perfect term to describe what we need to for all audiences, but we are looking for the best possible solution,
and we need to decide on this before we can move forward. Based on all the feedback we have received, we are asking you to indicate your agreement with the terms 'People' or 'Interest Holders'.
The 11Ps -
Patients, patient caregivers, patient advocates/organisations: Those with lived experience with the condition of interest or who care for or advocate on behalf of those with lived experience
Payers of health research: Individuals and organisations that fund research projects, such as government funders, industry funders, foundations
Payers / Purchasers of Health Services: Individuals, organisations and entities that pay for health services
Peer Reviewed Journal Editors: Those who set journal policy on guidelines and manage the peer review process and editing
Policymakers: Individuals, organisations and entities that craft public or private policy (on health) at any level of government
Principal Investigators and all members of the of research team: Individuals, organisations, and associations that conduct or advocate for health research (primary studies and systematic reviews)
Product makers: Individuals working for companies that manufacture pharmaceuticals, medical devices, medical procedures, health technologies, or for profit educational and behavioural packages
Program managers: Managers/directors who plan, lead, oversee, or deliver any program that provides public health, community services, or clinical care (e.g. budgeting, hiring, staffing, organising, coordinating, reporting)
Providers: Persons and their professional associations who provide health care in a professional capacity and allowed by regulatory bodies to provide a health care service
Public: Individuals in the general population of a defined geographic area excluding patients, caregivers, and health professionals living or working with the condition of interest.
