The University of Queensland chose Engagement Hub as their software provider to conduct the Radiant Study – a study about weight stigma in maternity care.
The team selected Engagement Hub due to the secure and safe space they could create for their participant groups online. Holding these groups online meant they could reach a much larger and more diverse population, including rural and remote areas, and encourage further participation through 24/7 access. It was important that the participants’ feedback was only shared with the researchers and that the data was securely stored and hosted in Australia.
The research took place in 9 private projects with small groups of participants being invited into each group, unaware of the other research groups. The team used the Events tool to collect RSVPs, display upcoming dates, and send out meeting links for online workshops. Following these workshops, participants took part in a ‘photovoice’ exercise where each participant found or created an image that represented their experience and shared this with the group. The Extended Ideas Wall tool allowed participants to comment on and support each other’s submissions and follow each other so they would be notified of any new posts, comments or activity in the group.
This proved very popular with the groups – so much so that a real sense of community and solidarity was created amongst group participants and they asked to continue and widen their engagement together. Using the SRM, the team was able to create a ‘supergroup’ of all their participants and this private project is still active today supporting participants to continue engaging with each other and sharing their experiences. This has led to further positive outcomes as participants have been empowered by taking part in the research and joined committees and campaigns to further the aims of weight-inclusive maternity care.
The team also used other project tools such as quick polls, timelines, document libraries, related projects, and latest news to build the story of the research and the built-in email newsletter system to keep participants and partners informed. On each group page, they shared a ‘Group Agreement’ graphic which set the ground rules for engagement in the group. (see picture below)
They also extensively used public Parent Pages which allowed them to publicly share information about the research, including how people could get involved. Using both the Latest News tool and the Related Projects tool, the team was able to document all the media coverage, academic papers, and presentations related to the research study.
The customisable permission levels within Engagement Hub gave the research team the ability to provide the research team with access to different areas of data e.g. demographic data in the SRM but to keep private other data.
The lead researcher Dr Bec Jenkinson said, “I am not a tech person but I’m very proud of the beautifully visual, functional, and inclusive platform we created using Engagement Hub. From the beginning, the team was great, and building the platform was simple. Anytime we needed any support, we received a response within 2 hours with direct assistance or links on how we could achieve this ourselves.”
“Our Engagement Hub platform not only enabled us to conduct our research online (which we would normally have done face-to-face) but in doing so this helped us to increase our reach and it has been great to see the community we have created which is still carrying on today.“
“I would highly recommend this software to other social researchers and universities as the private projects, SRM, permission levels, communication tools, and reporting enabled us to complete the research within one secure place.”
View their platform – https://radiantstudy.com.au/
