Researching reflexively with patients and families: two studies using video-reflexive ethnography to collaborate with patients and families in patient safety research

Patient safety research has to date offered few opportunities for patients and families to be actively involved in the research process. This article describes our collaboration with patients and families in two separate studies, involving end-of-life care and infection control in acute care. We used the collaborative methodology of video-reflexive ethnography, which has been primarily used with clinicians, to involve patients and families as active participants and collaborators in our research. The purpose of this article is to share our experiences and findings that iterative researcher reflexivity in the field was critical to the progress and success of each study. We present and analyze the complexities of reflexivity-in-the-field through a framework of multilayered reflexivity. We share our lessons here for other researchers seeking to actively involve patients and families in patient safety research using collaborative visual methods.