Patient centered research to improve community involvement (PaRTICIpate) in diabetes self-management: a conference series for developing collaborations between researchers, stakeholders, and patients.

To our knowledge, the use of a conference series designed to teach patients about research, encourage collaboration across stakeholder groups, and write research questions has not been described in the literature. Moreover, this approach has proven successful in recruiting and retaining patient participation through the life of the project. This project has also identified a number of issues for consideration by future researchers looking to meaningfully engage patients in the development of research proposals.