Table 1 Community engagement day ‘Psychosocial issues in BD: setting the CREST.BD agenda

Held in a historic building on UBC campus in Vancouver in the spring of 2008, CREST.BD’s first (of what were to become annual) CED entitled ‘ Psychosocial issues in BD: setting the CREST.BD agenda’ was designed to exchange knowledge with community members and key stakeholders about priorities for psychosocial/BD research. The event, co-chaired by the team leader and a team member with lived experience, was attended by 48 people: 30 community members (people with BD, family members, health care providers and community agency representatives) and 18 CREST.BD members. A variety of methods (interactive presentations, small group breakout sessions and brainstorming sessions) were used to garner input; QoL, wellness and stigma were identified as key research priorities for the team.

To maximise KT, the CED and subsequent team meeting were held back-to-back, with core team members attending both events. The meeting involved 30 participants, representing provincial, national and international expertise in BD research and clinical care. Prior to the meeting, a quantitative email exercise was performed to produce an initial list of potential BD/psychosocial research areas. Specifically, team members participated in a group brainstorming exercise to generate possible research foci, the results of the exercise were collated and participants were then asked to rank each foci on the basis of: i) perceived importance; ii) personal interest and expertise; and; iii) capacity to collaborate. In this facilitated group environment, time was also dedicated to exploring each of the research topics, in the context of the findings from the engagement day, in addition to exploration of the team’s mission and core values.