What is Patient-
Oriented Research?

Patient-Oriented Research

Patient-oriented research (POR) engages multi-disciplinary teams to answer research questions that matter to patients and improve health care. POR includes patients and family members as partners in the grant writing and research process. It also includes decision makers (including policy makers and health system leaders) and health care practitioners throughout the research process.

When the right combination of patients, researchers, healthcare practitioners and decision makers work together on research teams, they often achieve better results.

Patient involvement on POR teams has been shown to:

guide research to more relevant questions
improve data collection methods and interpretation.

Healthcare practitioners and decision makers on POR teams help to:

guide the research on a practical, sustainable path
speed up the process of translating new knowledge into policy and practice.

Canada’s Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research

SCPOR was formed as part of Canada’s Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR) implemented by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). SCPOR is one of 11 SUPPORT Units located across Canada dedicated to building capacity and supporting patient-oriented research. SUPPORT Units, like SCPOR, provide decision-makers and health care providers with the ways and means to connect research to patient-identified priorities, increasing the likelihood applying evidence-based solutions to be applied to health care.

For more information, visit cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/45859.html.