Representation in participatory healthcare decision‐making

In a fascinating paper, Holetzek and Holmberg emphasize the importance of representation when conducting patient and public involvement (PPI) in research. 1 We therefore reviewed our recent PPI work and considered whether our lay participants met their criteria in terms of responsiveness, characteristics and skills. PPI allows the incorporation of the unique perspectives that participants bring to research, which are crucial in the design of many studies. 2 In December 2021, we visited a London technical/further education college to explore the opinions of female students on the proposed patient literature for a feasibility study of using vaginal lactoferrin (a prebiotic protein derived from milk) instead of antibiotics/antifungals to treat bacterial vaginosis (BV) and thrush. 3,4 Our previous online survey of 82 women (mean age 22) found that 84% would be happy to try vaginal lactoferrin as a natural alternative to oral treatment for vaginal discharge. [...]of our PPI work, we have improved the patient information sheet by adding more information on data protection and on possible side effects of lactoferrin.