Background: The role of participatory health research (PHR) is increasingly endorsed by researchers, funding bodies, and civil society generally. Despite this, it continues to be an under-represented research approach in the speech and language therapy (SLT) research literature, and even more so in the stuttering-specific literature. This cooperative approach to research is associated with wide-ranging benefits, including a reduction in the research-practice gap, and positive impacts for practice, policy, and society.

Aims: This presentation aims to increase researchers’ and clinicians’ understanding of PHR, and to demonstrate its applicability to research exploring the voices of children who stutter.

Method: This aim is achieved through a discussion on PHR with children who stutter, and its underlying principles, advantages and challenges. Examples of current projects that are collecting the research priorities of children who stutter will also be presented.

Results: This presentation will serve as an important discussion on the value of PHR to research with children who stutter and will present guidance to facilitate its increased implementation in this research field.

Conclusions: PHR remains an under-represented research approach in the stuttering literature despite growing evidence revealing its value and effectiveness. It offers an avenue for the collection of the under-represented voices of children who stutter and challenges continuing research hierarchies by democratising the practice of knowledge production.

Implications for children and families:  You and your families are experts on the lived experience of stuttering and therefore possess essential knowledge to inform the future directions of research in the area.

Implications for practitioners: You play a pivotal role as co-researchers in PHR, and it is therefore imperative that you understand the principles and practices of this approach to support the collection of children’s voices in research studies.

Key words:children’s voices, stuttering, families’ voices, communication, health, theory

This presentation relates to the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:

• SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being
• SDG 17: Partnerships to Achieve the Goals