Theme: Ethical issues: dignity and humanity.

Introduction: Patient and public involvement in research is recognised as best practice in the UK, as services developed with service users are more likely to meet their needs. In child health this often means engaging with parents of young children.

Aim: To share experiences of engaging with parents of young children in research projects at varying levels of participation.

Methods: Methods include parents as participants, as parent panels and as research team members reflecting various steps on the participation ladder (Hart 1992).

Results: Parents report personal benefits and a range of different challenges when engaging in child health research which impact the management/delivery of research projects.

Conclusion: Key elements of working with parents include time to plan involvement, building respect/mutual understanding, equal access to project activities, continual support for parents, reward and recognition. Research projects need to cost and plan for parents’ engagement in research for it to be successful.