Many funders now expect research bids to include a plan for wide dissemination and impact beyond the papers. We know that researchers are passionate about this too; every month we talk to academics who want their research to help public directly. We share their belief that publicly funded research should be available to a wider audience than those who are able to pay costly journal fees and decipher academic writing.
For more than 20 years, The Dipex Charity has been sharing outputs from qualitative research with millions via our websites.
You can see more on our impact and our prices by downloading Working with the Dipex Charity
We help people feel encouraged to take a more active role in their health care and reduce their need to see a medical professional.
A successful online diabetes intervention that includes our clips, is being adopted by the NHS.
A recent study looked at how people with psychosis can benefit from other people’s narratives of psychosis and included clips from healthtalk.org.
Murray et al (2017) Web-based self-management support for people with type 2 diabetes (HeLP-Diabetes): randomised controlled trial in English primary care. BMJ Open 2017 ; 7.
Ng et al. (2019) The mechanisms and processes of connection: developing a causal chain model capturing impacts of receiving recorded mental health recovery narratives BMC Psychiatry 19:413
Our clips are used in teaching all over the world, for a variety of subjects and levels. An academic study showed that using our patient interview clips in teaching improved medical students’ exam results and confidence.
Rosamund Snow, Joanna Crocker, Katherine Talbot, Jane Moore & Helen Salisbury (2016) Does hearing the patient perspective improve consultation skills in examinations? An exploratory randomized controlled trial in medical undergraduate education, Medical Teacher, 38:12, 1229-1235, DOI: 10.1080/0142159X.2016.1210109
Research has demonstrated that our resources can prompt discussions among hospital staff about service improvements. We created short films made up of healthtalk.org video clips of patient interviews, interspersed with questions designed to prompt discussion amongst staff and service users. These lead to tangible results, comparable to those brought about with local user groups.
Darbyshire, JL, Hinton, L (2018) Using patient narratives to design an intervention to reduce noise in the intensive care unit. Journal of Health Design. 2018;3(2):109–112.
Locock et al (2014) Testing accelerated experience-based co-design: a qualitative study of using a national archive of patient experience narrative interviews to promote rapid patient-centred service improvement. Health Services and Delivery Research. No. 2.4
In 2021, former healthtalk.org collaborators Professors Jenny Kitzinger and Celia Kitzinger won the ESRC Impact Prize for “Outstanding Impact on Public Policy”. The award recognised work that built on insights and networks established during their research for the healthtalk.org resource for families of people in minimally conscious states.
Their research found that doctors were continuing to treat coma patients in cases where families and clinicians agreed it was no longer in the patient’s best interests. The only way to challenge this was through the courts. The Kitzinger sisters worked with families, healthcare and legal professionals to change this.
This was their second award from the ESRC. The first recognised the ‘Outstanding Impact on Society’ of the resource itself in 2014.
What research can appear on healthtalk.org and socialcaretalk.org?
Research must be conducted by a qualified researcher who is (or has been) based at a recognised academic institution, charitable organisation, or public entity. The quality of the proposed project will be vetted by the charity’s staff and trustees for its suitability. The charity has the right to decide against allowing dissemination on its web resources.
What kind of resources can appear on the websites?
We are open to discussing qualitative research projects and any outputs that cater to the needs of the proposed audience. We have experience in producing content in a variety of formats including video and audio interviews, podcasts, animations, written text etc.
“I have an inquest coming up into my son’s suicide. I wanted to know what happens at an inquest and have found and heard lots of useful information to help prepare me.“
What about the funding of projects which appear on healthtalk and socialcaretalk?
The majority of our funding comes from the NIHR and charitable sources. The funding of any proposed project will be vetted by the charity’s staff and trustees for its suitability.
What support can the charity provide for the funding bid?
Our CEO, Adam Barnett, has been a co-applicant on numerous successful research bids, and can also offer a letter of support (please check his Orcid profile https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7603-8692).
We can provide website user statistics and data from user surveys that show how the website helps people. We can also provide responses to reviewer questions/comments.
How much does it cost to disseminate through healthtalk.org and socialcaretalk.org?
As a non-profit, we create quality resources and aim keep them available indefinitely, thereby maximising the potential impact of your research and funding. However, we also require funding for developing and publishing resources and for the ongoing maintenance of the websites. Costs depend on the size and nature of the material. Please contact us to discuss this further, ideally before the funding bid goes in!
“Thank you very much, you have helped me considerably & given me hope for dealing with my injuries“
How do things like intellectual property and legal agreements work?
The charity does not claim any intellectual property rights (IP), over the data used for its resources. All copyright and IP remain with the institution that conducted the research.
Instead, the charity requires a license agreement which gives them the right to publish the output on their websites and use for various educational purposes.
What agreement is needed from the participants?
Participants must sign to give consent that their material can be distributed in the ways mentioned above (the charity can provide an example/template for this).
All participants are anonymised, and no identifying material is ever kept by the charity. The participants can also withdraw at any time by contacting the charity directly, even after the project funding/lifespan has ended.
“I LOVED the fact the testimonies are in video form, so I could “see” the people are real and [have] gone through the same thing.“