Stakeholder engagement is of key importance in systematic review processes [10]. Often, stakeholders contribute to the formulation of the research questions for the systematic reviews and maps to which they are also end-users. We argue that storytelling can be beneficial when it is integrated at the stages of the review process where stakeholders are involved. Moreover, storytelling can work as a means to effectively communicate the end results or key messages of the review. Here, we present two instances where storytelling can be integrated with the purpose of engaging stakeholders in the process or making use of the final results (see Fig. 1):
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Assemble contextual narratives from stakeholders at the early stages of the review process, facilitating question formulation, protocol writing and review design.
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Formulate a final story at the end of the systematic review, based on the results from the systematic review or map and aligned with the contextual narratives earlier assembled. The final story can be used for communicating the results and make it digestible for stakeholders.
According to Gough et al. [10] there are mainly two different options for stakeholder involvement: stakeholders become either consultants or collaborators to the review team. As collaborators, the stakeholders are engaged to a larger extent than as consultants. During the initial stage, the reviewers formulate research questions together with stakeholders, who also contribute to the scope of the review or map as well as key concepts and definitions. In this paper, we explore the integration of narratives in systematic reviews and maps where stakeholders play a collaborative role. While this is one way to incorporate storytelling in evidence synthesis processes, there may be other means for its operationalisation.
At the initial stage of the review process, i.e. question formulation, stakeholders bring their various experiences, knowledge, priorities and values to the table. In the area of healthcare research, narrative inquiry is being commonly used as a technique to comprehend individual experiences [20]. If narratives were explored and used at an early stage in systematic reviews and maps in environmental management and conservation, they could contribute not only to increased stakeholder engagement, but also to a more informed process where diverse perspectives and needs of stakeholders effectively can be gathered. These ‘contextual narratives’ (see Fig. 1) can be assembled using different types of storytelling techniques, for example, the “Message Box” exercise pioneered by COMPASS, and can be collaborative between stakeholders. The Message Box can help stakeholders to identify and formulate their relevant problem in need of investigation (see [4]). Gathering the contextual narratives will (i) help to identify the most pertinent review questions and take into account the needs of stakeholders for review design and protocol writing and (ii) provide context to the research issue that can be used when communicating the final results.
By requesting the stakeholders to prepare their narratives in advance of the first workshop or stakeholder meeting, the reviewers can ensure to capture experiences and concerns from all stakeholders, including marginalised or vulnerable ones. At the same time, misperceptions are better avoided and diverging opinions easier to handle. The individual narratives will be rather ‘raw’ in nature, and stakeholders can be encouraged to step forward and reflect freely without necessarily being constrained by facts and data. Gathering contextual narratives at this stage of a systematic review or map is likely to increase the engagement and curiosity among stakeholders concerned, as well as creating a sense of ownership. Moreover, by giving this space to stakeholders, the review team can identify the agency of marginalised groups and individuals. The team also gets the possibility to identify variables important to stakeholders that can be integrated into stages of data extraction and synthesis. Recording and clustering the narratives are important as well, in order to facilitate accurate and traceable use when they are to be aligned with the final results for communication and outreach. It may be beneficial to consult a professional communicator prior to the meeting and assembly of narratives.
While the stakeholders have limited to no active participation during the intermediate stages of the systematic review (i.e. search, article screening, critical appraisal and data extraction, data synthesis and report writing) (Neal Haddaway, personal communication), they are again critical when the results are to be communicated, now as end-users. Here, storytelling can be used as an effective tool to communicate the logical-scientifically structured findings by formulating a final story that aligns and connects with the contextual narratives initially assembled (see Fig. 1). In contrast to the format of the final reports of systematic reviews and maps, where information is plainly presented, an experience is generated among stakeholders by embedding and grounding the findings into a contextually relevant story [8]. When the review team is preparing the communication and outreach material and activities, the narratives of perspectives and needs of stakeholders can be included to provide a context and to feed into the final story. This is important in making the final story resonate with the target audiences; the story will, in part, be based on the contextual narratives, thus the reviewers can adapt the material in terms of language, tone, place, and the use of jargon. The final stakeholder meetings are also an opportunity to test the story, and collaboratively adjust it. It could be equally beneficial, if not even more so at this stage, to consult a professional communicator when developing the final story, for an increased outreach and stakeholder engagement potential.
As a final point, a major advantage with both assembling contextual narratives and developing a final story is that they can be used and adapted for a large range of communication formats. This includes not only those suggested by CEE (policy briefs, executive summaries and guidance notes) ([3], p. 11), but they can also serve as a basis to develop and inform other communication products, e.g. by providing the synopsis for a video or underpinning the basic structure for an op-ed (an opinion piece in a newspaper or magazine) or an oral presentation.