PEARL for Researchers

Are you looking for a Patient Partner to join your research team? Do you have an opportunity for patients to participate in your study? Patient Engagement and Research Link (PEARL) provides a platform where research teams can share their opportunities and recruit Patient Partners and participants.

By submitting your opportunity to PEARL, patients, their family members, friends and other informal caregivers will be able to view your opportunity and express their interest in your project. There are three categories of research opportunities on PEARL:

1. Patient Partner Opportunities: Patient Partners are equal members of the research team and may be engaged at any or all stages throughout the research process.  Patient Partners have expertise gained through their lived experience with a health issue.  They contribute their unique expertise as equal members on the research team, which helps ensure the research is relevant and meaningful to patients.

2. Participant Opportunities: Participants are patients that contribute to research by participating in studies and providing input in specific areas, however they are not members of the research team.

3. National Opportunities: These occur when researchers outside of the province of Saskatchewan seek input from Saskatchewan patients for patient-oriented research projects.

• Please ensure that all applicants, whether they are selected to join your team or not, are contacted by a member of your team. You will be expected to communicate with each individual who expresses an interest in your opportunity.

• When posting an opportunity, keep in mind things that will increase the likelihood of finding the right patient for your project. Opportunities that are posted for longer periods of time (we recommend no less than 6 weeks) will receive more views from potential Patient Partners and participants. Additionally, providing narrower or restrictive parameters of skills and experience being sought will make finding a match more difficult. Research teams are encouraged to share the link to their opportunities with their own networks.

• Submitted opportunities will be approved prior to being posted. If questions arise or clarification is required, the contact person listed in the submission will be notified as soon as possible.

• You will receive an email notification when your opportunity has been posted and it will be removed on the deadline indicated in the submission form. You will not receive a notification when the posting has been removed.

• Should you wish to extend the deadline, please contact SCPOR’s Patient Engagement Team at scpor.pe@saskhealthauthority.ca.