Effective communication is essential in research, and this guide offers strategies for developing a comprehensive communication plan that addresses the needs of diverse participant populations, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Key recommendations include engaging consumers in project planning to ensure relevance, piloting communication approaches with target populations, and collaborating with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander researchers to foster culturally respectful practices.
The guidance highlights the importance of consulting with ethics review bodies and research governance officers to clarify communication responsibilities, particularly for sharing study results. Existing templates, case studies, and evaluation strategies support a structured, responsive approach to participant engagement, helping research teams build transparent, ethical, and participant-centered communication practices.
Your communication plan is likely to include some of the specific strategies that we have discussed below. These strategies were discussed in many of the interviews and in detail with workshop participants. We have included quotes from these participants.

Working with Consumers
We recommend that you include consumer representatives in your project planning group, and pilot communication strategies with people from the target populations that you wish to recruit. These groups are best placed to advise how relevant these issues are in the context of your study and your population.
You can find some information about engaging consumers in the design here:
Working with First Nations populations
There are additional considerations with research involving Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander participants, including their more holistic conception of health and awareness of historical health injustices. Because of this, there is an ethical imperative that research projects include genuine engagement with local Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander representatives if:
- the experience of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples is an explicit focus of all or part of the research
- data collection is explicitly directed at Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples, as a group, are to be examined in the results/publications
- information has an impact on one or more Aboriginal communities
- Aboriginal health funds are a source of fundings
- the research will benefit Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander health
- These projects should also comply with:
- The AIATSIS code of ethics, which outlines key principles for conducting ethical research with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
- Relevant advice from Aboriginal ethics bodies per jurisdiction, recognising that not all states and territories have a dedicated Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ethics committee
- NHMRC guidelines for ethical conduct in research with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
When reporting on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples it is important to be guided by relevant guidelines for appropriate research reporting such as:
- The CONSIDER statement, which includes the requirement that publications demonstrate how the research findings will be disseminated to the relevant indigenous governing bodies and peoples.
- The CREATE Tool which is a quality appraisal tool to assess the quality of health research from an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspective and aligns with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander values and Indigenous methodologies.
Some of the groups working in this space include:
- The Lowitja Institute is Australia's only national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community controlled health research institute. Their website has a wealth of information including links to projects that are currently underway.
- The University of Newcastle Aboriginal Health Research Community Panel is a great resource for researchers in the Hunter and New England regions. It is also an excellent example of a community reference group.
- The Guunu-maana Heal program at The George Institute for Global Health
- This group is currently researching how to make consent processes more culturally appropriate: "The Consent Study" by Julieann Coombes, Keziah Bennett-Brook et al.
- They have also worked on assessing the suitability of standardised research screening measures: Getting it right: Validation of a culturally-specific measure to identify depression in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people | The George Institute for Global Health
Resources
- PoCoG has a helpful series of e-Learning modules, including one focused on clinical trials: First Nations eLearning Modules — PoCoG
- A NT example of a resource to translate health related works: Plain English Health Dictionary | NT.GOV.AU
- JoinUs has some useful advice about Indigenous data sovereignty from a health research perspective: Data Sovereignty – Join Us
- A discussion on electronic communication strategies likely to resonate with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
- The University of Wollongong has put together a useful guide for common terms: You can’t say that! But consider this
Relevant papers
- Laying the foundations of community engagement in Aboriginal health research: establishing a community reference group and terms of reference in a novel research field | Research Involvement and Engagement | Full Text
- Is all that glitters gold? Assessing the quality and ethics of ‘gold standard' randomised controlled trials conducted in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander settings
- Are there systematic barriers to participation in cancer treatment trials by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cancer patients in Australia? - Cunningham - 2021 - Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health - Wiley Online Library
- Assessing the quality of health research from an Indigenous perspective: the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander quality appraisal tool | BMC Medical Research Methodology | Full Text
Communication plans
We recommend developing a communication plan to guide discussions with ethical review bodies, research governance officers, and with site staff during feasibility assessments. This communication plan should include the responsibilities that each party will have in ensuring that the communication will take place. For instance, who will have responsibility to ensure that participants will receive the lay summary of the project results, especially if the site will be closed before then? This may include seeking approval of the document from the ethical review body and sending the document to the participants.
There are existing templates for how you might approach developing a communication plan (e.g. this one developed by Shelly et.al.). Your plan should include the triggers for when communication will be sent out, how feedback about your communication will be collected and addressed, and what your plan for seeking ethical approval will be.
Your communication plan should also include evaluation strategies. As identified in the White Paper, there is a relative lack of reporting on the effectiveness of communication with research participants, and we encourage you to contribute to our knowledge by evaluating and publishing on your communication. For instance, you should consider how feedback from participants and site staff will be sought or received, and how such feedback will be responded to either in the current project or in future projects.
Ethics Review of Clinical Research Communications
Resources:
- Shelly et al, 2023: Creating a best practice template for participant communication plans in global health clinical studies
- MRCT (US) Glossary of clinical research terms, includes alt text Clinical Research Glossary – The Multi-Regional Clinical Trials Center of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard
- MRCT (US) resource focused on accessibility, which includes guidance for communication Accessibility by Design (AbD) Toolkit – Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity in Clinical Research
Elements of your communication plan
The elements of a communication plan discussed below are ones that the Beyond the Form project heard of in discussion with site staff and participants that you may need to address in the plan. We recommend that you form a reference group to help co-create your project and how the project staff will communicate with participants, as there may be other elements that are relevant to you.
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