Using children and young people as advocates to inform research design

Statement of contextThis practice analysis discusses the benefits and challenges of young advocates with physical disabilities and communication difficulties informing research design.Critical reflection on practiceThe use of advocates helped to inform a PhD project exploring the experience of play for 6–12-year-olds with high levels of physical disability due to cerebral palsy. This enabled the improvement of the study design in terms of participant information, interview questions, and the format of the participant interviews.Implications for practiceRigorous and well-designed research has a positive impact upon therapy practice. Researchers should make use of children and young people as advocates in order to enable high-quality research design.