While citizen science (CS) has gained global reputation as a valuable participatory research methodology, over the last decade its demarcation is still somewhat controversial. Attempts to reach a precise definition of CS have resulted in several sets of criteria, principles and minimum requirements without universal normative power. In search of a transparent and just selection process, platforms offering access to CS projects started to define their own selection criteria. In 2017, the Austrian CS community co-created a set of 20 quality criteria to define minimum requirements for CS projects to be listed on the national platform Österreich forscht. After more than five years of applying the criteria, we reflect on the implications for CS projects in Austria. Our mixed method approach of qualitative and quantitative analysis across 103 projects shows no disadvantage for specific research domains or types of institution, but certain challenges for project coordinators to apply all criteria to their projects. The analysis suggests an overall improvement of projects, especially in regard to their ‘citizen scientificity’, meaning that the criteria helped them to better distinguish themselves from other scientific methods, improving their engagement, communication and open data management.

Chronic pain is a significant health issue, particularly for women, with South Asian women being an underrepresented group in research. This study aimed to explore the needs and challenges of South Asian women living with chronic pain and develop strategies to address them. Participatory Action Research. Sixteen South Asian women in the United Kingdom, aged 30 to 78 years, participated in three rounds of data collection through focus groups, co-development of two intervention approaches and feedback sessions. Participants completed the full long-form Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS) prior to phase 1 and again in phase 3. A paired-samples t-test was conducted using SPSS to determine whether there was a significant difference between pre- and post-intervention scores. Phase one identified two pain management intervention approaches: a tailored written resource and a group peer support intervention. Phase two provided insights into their design. Phase three evaluated the strategies following creation and pilot and identified key themes regarding effectiveness: resource design, effects and continued engagement. Quantitative analysis showed significant improvements in mental well-being scores across the course of the Participatory Action Research process. This study highlights barriers and facilitators to pain management among South Asian women, offering transferable insights for culturally sensitive interventions. Participatory approaches can facilitate the development of culturally tailored interventions with the potential to enhance coping, self-efficacy, empowerment and mental well-being. This study provides methodological and practical guidance for co-designing interventions for underrepresented communities, with implications for broader implementation and future research.

This research aimed to comprehensively investigate the challenges faced by physical education teachers in implementing physical activities towards health and fitness (PATH-Fit) as the new tertiary physical education curriculum in the Philippines. Employing a qualitative research design, the study engaged five physical education teachers from a leading State University in the Southern Philippines as the main source of data. The research participants were actively involved in focus group discussions and in-depth interviews using an open-ended guide questionnaire validated by experts in the field. The triangulation of results revealed five essential themes capturing the significant challenges faced by these educators in the implementation of the new curriculum: inadequate instructional references, insufficient instructional time for PATH-Fit, lack of training and retooling for teachers, unavailability of equipment and materials, and shortfall on administrative support and guidance. As this research contributes critical insights into the multifaceted challenges associated with PATH-Fit implementation, it emphasizes the necessity for strategic interventions to enhance the effectiveness of the new tertiary physical education curriculum in the Philippines.

Enhancing engagement in biobanking research among Black women with endometrial cancer.

Variable health outcomes across populations remain chronic challenges in modern healthcare, due in part to an imbalance in participation in clinical research. Rather than base novel therapeutics on narrow cohorts that limit validity and generalizability, we should broaden our commitments to developing solutions that benefit all populations. Many participants remain hesitant due to mistrust in research and medical institutions; however, novel approaches are necessary to bridge the gap in research representation. These concerns are particularly prominent in Indigenous communities, which have faced a long history of unethical research practices. Community-based participatory research methods can aid researchers in improving research access by centering community engagement at the core of the research partnership and enabling co-creation of research priorities. We have created a community-academic partnership with an Indigenous community in Montana over almost two decades, built on mutual respect and learning. Drawing on our partnership, we present community-engaged strategies that together form a framework for building meaningful, enduring community partnerships that foster trust in research. This framework can help to ensure that clinical research opportunities are more broadly available, supporting the diffusion of health innovations to every patient.

• Develops a strengths-based methodological architecture for transformative service research. • Synthesizes five methodological pathways for studying vulnerable consumer experiences. • Identifies core research mechanisms linking methods to theoretical outcomes. • Incorporates consumer neuroscience and implicit approaches to capture non-conscious processes. • Advances a process-oriented roadmap for theory development in service systems. A new methodological framework is introduced to advance Transformative Service Research (TSR) concerning consumers experiencing vulnerability. A comprehensive analysis of empirical literature demonstrates the field’s dominant reliance on traditional, primarily researcher-centered methods, such as interviews and focus groups. This methodological narrowness limits the extent to which consumer strengths, resilience, and adaptive practices are captured across issues such as aging, physical disability, and financial insecurity. This work counters the methodological imbalance by delineating five underutilized, participant-centered approaches: participatory action research, grounded theory, storytelling, visual methods, and consumer neuroscience and implicit approaches. These methods are carefully selected to structurally mitigate power differentials, amplify marginalized voices, and reveal embodied or implicit consumer insights. The research provides a systematic roadmap for advancing the use of these techniques in TSR, addressing essential ethical considerations, and offering practical guidelines for inclusive research design. The framework informs future research aimed at better understanding consumer agency, resilience, and inclusion within service systems. Beyond extending TSR’s methodological repertoire, the framework shows how strengths-based approaches reveal new dimensions of vulnerability, thereby advancing theoretical understanding of resilience and inclusion within service systems.

The loss of vital family documents during disasters poses significant risks to civil rights, administrative continuity, and community resilience. This study aims to strengthen the social resilience of disaster-affected Muslim communities by digitizing family archives. Conducted in Bumiaji Subdistrict, Batu City, Indonesia, following the 2021 flash flood, this research employed a Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach involving 40 participants. The study collected data through interviews, observations, and document analysis, and analyzed them using descriptive quantitative and thematic qualitative methods. The findings reveal a substantial improvement in participants' archival literacy and digital competencies. Knowledge of family archives increased from 69% to 94.7%, while understanding of digital archiving improved from 42.9% to 78.9%. Participants successfully digitized, organized, and stored essential documents independently, demonstrating enhanced preparedness for disaster risks. The study highlights that digital archiving serves as an effective strategy for preserving civil identity, protecting cultural memory, and ensuring administrative continuity. It further contributes to the discourse on archival studies and disaster management by positioning family-level digital archiving as a practical instrument for strengthening social resilience. This research proposes a replicable community-based model integrating digital literacy, archival preservation, and disaster preparedness, offering policymakers, archival institutions, and disaster-prone communities worldwide valuable insights

Embracing cultures, balancing autonomy, and finding solutions in international student-led campus community gardens: A participatory action research approach

American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) women experience more vasomotor symptoms during menopausal transition compared to women of other racial and ethnic groups. Yet, there have been no evidence-based interventions aimed at peri‑ and post-menopause treatment among midlife AI/AN women. The aim of this exploratory study was to refine a culturally informed intervention for perimenopause/menopause treatment for midlife AI/AN women. A Convergent parallel mixed methods design incorporating the principles of community-based participatory research was used. Community Advisory Board members (n = 8) from an urban community of Native women, who also served as participants, participated in meetings on Zoom to refine the intervention. Participants also completed an online survey that included demographics, health status, and integrative health therapy options. Quantitative measures were summarized using descriptive statistics. Content analysis was conducted on summaries of the community advisory board sessions. All participants self-reported as AI/AN women. During the sessions, women named the intervention, Waning Moon, and shared the following: a) content to be prioritized to best support the needs of Native women; b) mode of delivery and duration of Waning Moon; and c) promoting Waning Moon within the community. Quantitative surveys results revealed that 40% of participants had used integrative health. Synthesizing both quantitative and qualitative findings, responses aligned across data sources regarding willingness to use integrative health approaches and the use of preventative care. Waning Moon incorporates conventional and integrative health and is greatly desired by AI/AN women. Women's health clinicians should note that integrative and Native treatments are more likely to be accepted by AI/AN women when culturally tailored.

Feasibility of a Co-designed Intervention to Promote Parental Empowerment for Children with Developmental Disabilities.

Experiences with recovery from substance use in a Northern Midwest Indigenous Reservation setting.

• Citizens meets analytical chemistry: a bridge for growing. • Low cost, eco-friendly, and wearable devices. • Health and environmental monitoring. • 3D printing and smartphone as tools for inclusivity in science. Citizen science is rapidly emerging as a transformative force in analytical chemistry by opening research participation to non-specialists and expanding where and how data can be collected. This report explores how recent technological advances have made analytical tools simpler, smaller, and more affordable. These developments have enabled citizens and students to be engaged directly in environmental monitoring, food-quality assessment, and educational activities, often producing data comparable to those generated in laboratories. In addition, several emerging prototypes have been purposefully designed with citizen use in mind, anticipating future applications in participatory science. The discussion also addresses areas where citizen science could play a growing role, including biomedical and forensic analysis, while recognizing challenges related to data reliability, ethics, and validation. Overall, this report highlights how accessible technologies, supported by artificial intelligence and digital communication, are transforming analytical chemistry into a more inclusive and collaborative discipline, connecting scientific research with everyday life.

Reporting of data on participant ethnicity and socioeconomic status in high impact respiratory journals: a targeted literature review.

Choosing to undertake participatory and action-oriented research within the constraints of a doctoral project remains relatively rare. Yet an increasing number of graduate students are challenging traditional trajectories and academic systems by pursuing degrees with proposed research grounded in such approaches. This article draws on duoethnographic inquiry between two PhD candidates enrolled in a joint doctoral program across institutions in Australia and the United Kingdom. We offer a collaborative account of our ongoing journeys in real time rather than retrospectively, tracing how we navigate challenges while also identifying opportunities. Our methodology is grounded in dialogic exchange, written correspondence, and the co-authoring of each other’s narratives, practices that blur the boundary between method and action. By situating our writing within the immediacy of the doctoral process, we foreground the complexity and uncertainty of negotiating institutional demands while remaining committed to participatory and action-oriented values. In doing so, we open space for broader reflection on how doctoral study can be reimagined as a site of collective learning and transformation. Ultimately, this contribution affirms that participatory and action-oriented research is not only possible within doctoral programs, but can also catalyze new ways of challenging and reshaping the institutional cultures in which it is embedded.

Ehlers Danlos Syndromes (EDS) are hereditary connective tissue disorders. The purpose of this participatory action qualitative research study is to describe experiences of dysphagia in people with hypermobile EDS (hEDS). Ten participants (8 F, 1M, and 1 nonbinary-assigned F at birth; ages 19-52years) with hEDS completed the Eating Assessment Tool (EAT-10; Belafsky et al., 2008), Reflux Symptom Index (RSI; Belafsky et al., 2002), and semi-structured interviews. The interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and verified. Phenomenological qualitative research methods were used to code (Atlas.ti Web) and develop themes. All participants affirmed dysphagia symptoms via the EAT-10 (M = 17.65; SD = 6.93; Range = 4-29) with 6/10 requiring a feeding tube at some point. Most participants also affirmed reflux symptoms on the RSI (M = 20.30; SD = 8.3; Range 7-36). Four preliminary themes related to dysphagia in people with hEDS were identified: (1) Swallowing discomfort is common, requiring cognitive and physical effort; (2) Gastrointestinal symptoms impact deglutition and often lead to a need for supplemental nutrition / hydration; (3) Dyspnea is common, and may intermittently impact respiratory-swallowing coordination; and (4) Dismissal of physiological symptoms as "anxiety" by at least one provider prior to acknowledgment of an underlying condition occurs frequently. Dysphagia is commonly reported by people with hEDS and appears to be related to underlying symptoms of hEDS and/or dysautonomia. Further research is needed to elucidate the impact and mechanisms of impairments associated with hEDS and dysautonomia across all phases of swallowing.

Evaluating the Implementation of a Toolkit With Meaningful Activities for Residents With Dementia.

ABSTRACT Hong Kong faces population ageing and growing demand for community-based palliative care. The 2023 Advance Decision on Life-sustaining Treatment Bill marks a shift towards autonomy in death and dying, alongside emerging compassionate community initiatives. This article reports the first stage of a Cooperative Inquiry (CI) with the non-profit organisation Forget Thee Not (FTN), which has promoted community-based approaches to dying since 2013. Between May and August 2024, five co-inquirers (board members, staff, and an academic facilitator) engaged in four reflection cycles to prepare the organisation for developing organisational death literacy. Drawing on service data and frontline reflections, the analysis identifies four themes: (1) increasing community demand for death literacy and support; (2) FTN’s distinctive positioning within the health and social care system; (3) challenges in articulating the social impact of funeral services; and (4) the role of organisational reflection in fostering death literacy. These findings informed subsequent CI stages, in which 25 co-inquirers participated in re-articulating experiential knowledge as a basis for organisational learning. The article advances the concept of organisational death literacy by demonstrating how it is constituted through organisational reflection within participatory inquiry, extending existing discussions of death literacy beyond individual knowledge to collective practice.

The researchers who conduct, author and review neuroscience studies inherently shape both the findings and the segments of society that ultimately benefit from the research. Generally, Western high-income nations dominate the production and dissemination of the majority of prestigious scientific research. However, the extent of geographic disparities across the neuroscience research pipeline, including at the level of editors, peer reviewers, authors, and research participants, have not been examined. This article synthesizes meta-research studies examining geographic disparities in neuroscience research, supplemented by an analysis of the properties of 2,013 articles published in the top five most prestigious neuroscience journals between 2014 and 2023. Our review demonstrates that editorial boards and authorship of neuroscience research remains concentrated in high-income Western nations, with some evidence to suggest that authors affiliated with non-high-income nations are increasingly represented. There is currently no direct evidence to suggest that authors affiliated with non-high-income countries experience disparities in peer review delays or public engagement with their research. However, our analysis shows that these authors' works receive fewer citations than their high-income nation-affiliated colleagues'. Further, while very few non-high-income nation-affiliated researchers first-author prestigious neuroscience publications, a relatively greater proportion of these prestigious publications use data from research participants in non-high-income nations. We conclude the review by summarizing current initiatives aimed at reducing geographic disparities in neuroscience research.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) affects approximately 7% of the global population and can trigger low self-esteem. Sustained low self-esteem can interfere with an individual's self-concept. In Indonesia, adult mental health problems related to PTSD remain underreported, with only 1 in 4 sufferers in low- and middle-income countries seeking treatment. Low self-esteem is characterized by feelings of worthlessness and withdrawal from social interactions. Positive affirmation therapy may support improvement in this condition by shifting negative self-beliefs toward more constructive self-perception. This study used a descriptive case study design with a nursing care approach. Nursing care includes assessment, diagnosis, intervention, implementation, and evaluation. The research participant was an adult woman with PTSD and low self-esteem. Data were collected through interviews, observations, and documentation, then analyzed through validation and data grouping. A 40-year-old woman, Mrs. A, experienced low self-esteem due to bullying since junior high school and showed symptoms such as lack of confidence, social withdrawal, and feelings of worthlessness. A 3-day positive affirmation therapy intervention was associated with positive changes in self-expression and social engagement. These findings suggest that positive affirmation therapy may contribute to improved self-confidence and social interaction in adult patients with low self-esteem related to PTSD.

Human society is characterized by an interest in understanding the world and its phenomena. However, for most of society, science is a distant endeavor, reserved for a select group, and a wide gap exists between scientists and citizens. This gap is even more striking in psychology, where humans are the study subjects of interest. Citizen science (CS) is a recent approach that incorporates perspectives of nonprofessional scientists or "citizens" through their active participation in scientific research. Because CS remains largely unexplored within several subdomains of psychology, including cognitive psychology, this review highlights the opportunities that CS can offer for our field. After situating the relation between science and society and the emergence of CS in the history of science, we provide an overview of existing definitions and models of CS, which we then synthesize into a new model. We also describe CS studies within the field of psychology, with a specific focus on cognitive psychology. Crucially, we discuss the main opportunities and challenges of CS, zooming in on specific challenges that CS faces within psychology and cognitive psychology in particular. Ultimately, this review aims to bridge the gap between psychologists and their study subjects, by stimulating the development and application of a citizen science approach within cognitive psychology.