The Impact of Research Results Feedback on the Lived Experiences of Elderly Participants in the DIMAMO Health Demographic Site: A Case of AWI-Gen Participants

Reneilwe G. Mashaba, Cairo B. Ntimana (), Precious Makoti, Katlego Mothapo, Joseph Tlouyamma and Kagiso P. Seakamela
Additional contact information
Reneilwe G. Mashaba: DIMAMO Population Health Research Centre, University of Limpopo, Sovenga St, Polokwane 0727, South Africa
Cairo B. Ntimana: DIMAMO Population Health Research Centre, University of Limpopo, Sovenga St, Polokwane 0727, South Africa
Precious Makoti: DIMAMO Population Health Research Centre, University of Limpopo, Sovenga St, Polokwane 0727, South Africa
Katlego Mothapo: DIMAMO Population Health Research Centre, University of Limpopo, Sovenga St, Polokwane 0727, South Africa
Joseph Tlouyamma: DIMAMO Population Health Research Centre, University of Limpopo, Sovenga St, Polokwane 0727, South Africa
Kagiso P. Seakamela: DIMAMO Population Health Research Centre, University of Limpopo, Sovenga St, Polokwane 0727, South Africa

IJERPH, 2025, vol. 22, issue 10, 1-13

Abstract: The concept of engaging the community in the results of research or returning individual results to the respective participants seems more of an afterthought than an integral part of research processes. The study aims to assess the impact of research results feedback among study participants from a rural black community of low socio-economic status. The study was qualitative. The interview data was analyzed using a deductive content analysis method to develop themes. The present study included about 31 individuals, of which 79% were women and 29% were men. The study used deductive content analysis to identify themes. These themes included health and lifestyle awareness, perceived benefits of research participation, community perception of health research, economic and social motivations, and challenges and concerns. The present study shed light on the importance of returning individual results for participants in health research. Providing feedback was found to improve participants’ health awareness, lifestyle behavior and contribute to early disease detection, especially for conditions that are not routinely tested in clinics. The themes that were generated showed that participants altered their lives and health-seeking behavior because of the information they received from participating in research, a situation that would not have happened if they did not have the results back. The findings of the present study indicate that it is important to return feedback results post conducting a research study. Returning results not only improves the livelihood of participants at the community level but also has the potential to foster strong researcher–community partnerships to enhance research participation and health outcomes, especially in disadvantaged populations.

Keywords: results feedback; lived experiences; research participation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/22/10/1565/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/22/10/1565/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:22:y:2025:i:10:p:1565-:d:1771426

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().