Patient Engagement in Patient-Oriented Research Certificate
This certificate course is part of the AbSPORU Leadership in Patient-Oriented Research Microcredential.
Registration Opening Soon
Need a strong, well-developed patient engagement plan for your grant funding proposal, research study or program of research? This course is designed to help you build one, step by step, with personalized feedback from patient engagement practitioners and experts, including patient research partners.
Whether you’re preparing a funding application or strengthening an existing study, the Patient Engagement in Patient-Oriented Research Certificate course offers practical, hands-on training to help you create a well-informed, actionable, and ethical patient engagement plan. Over 10 weeks, you’ll explore key concepts and strategies, develop your plan through guided assignments, and receive tailored feedback to improve your work.
Who Should Take the Course
Researchers, clinicians, patient partners, and decision-makers who want to enhance the relevance and impact of their work by partnering with patients meaningfully and effectively.
Course Objectives
After completing the course, you will be equipped to:
- Develop a complete patient engagement plan and budget tailored to your project or proposal.
- Apply patient engagement frameworks and ethical principles to guide meaningful collaboration.
- Plan for inclusive and equitable practices, including recruitment, compensation, and co-authorship.
- Evaluate patient partnerships using practical tools and reflective approaches.
Each week builds toward your patient engagement plan. Along the way, you’ll cover:
- Canada’s SPOR Strategy and foundational principles of patient engagement
- Common language and frameworks for structuring patient engagement activities
- Roles and opportunities for patient partners across the research cycle
- Ethical considerations, reflexivity, and avoiding tokenism
- Equity-based compensation and reimbursement practices
- Recruitment strategies and safeguards against fake participants
- Evaluation tools to assess the quality and impact of partnerships
- Dissemination planning, including co-authorship with patient partners
- Budgeting and posting templates to support implementation
- A 10-week, fully online course hosted on the Canvas LMS
- Live Zoom sessions every 1–2 weeks for real-time learning and peer exchange
- Weekly workload: ~3–4 hours, varying slightly by topic
- Project-based assignments: Apply what you learn to your own project and build your engagement plan step by step
- Expert feedback: Receive personalized input from both teaching faculty and patient partners
- Final presentation: Share your engagement plan with your cohort in a supportive, virtual session
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CALGARY
University of Calgary Foothills Campus
3330 Hospital Dr NW
Calgary, AB T2N 4N1
EDMONTON
University of Alberta North Campus
Dianne and Irving Kipnes Health Research Institute
11405 87 Ave NW
Edmonton, AB T6G 1C9
Land Acknowledgment
The Alberta SPOR SUPPORT Unit operates on and acknowledges the lands that are the traditional and ancestral territory of many peoples, presently subject to Treaties 6, 7, and 8. Namely: the Blackfoot Confederacy – Kainai, Piikani, and Siksika – the Cree, Dene, Saulteaux, Nakota Sioux, Stoney Nakoda, and the Tsuu T’ina Nation and the Métis People of Alberta. This includes the Métis Settlements and the Métis Nation of Alberta. We acknowledge the many First Nations, Métis and Inuit who have lived in and cared for these lands for generations. We make this acknowledgment as a reaffirmation of our shared commitment towards reconciliation, and as part of AbSPORU’s mandate towards fostering health system transformation.
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