Developing Communication Plans

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 First Nations communities. Key recommendations include engaging consumers in project planning to ensure relevance, piloting communication approaches with target populations, and collaborating with First Nations researchers to foster culturally respectful practices.

The guidance highlights the importance of consulting with ethical review bodies and research governance 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.

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.

[communication plan graphic (comic strip of making friendship bracelets) – in draft]

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 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 [gap] in reporting on the effectiveness of communication with research participants, and we encourage you to help bridge that gap 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.

[link to Ethics Review of Clinical Research Communications doc]

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.