Valuing student voices: a qualitative study on fair recognition and compensation practices for student partners in mental health research
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Post-secondary student mental health research increasingly calls for students to be engaged as equal partners, yet there is a lack of guidance on how to recognize and compensate their contributions. This study examines how student partners’ contributions to post-secondary student mental health research should be recognized through qualitative insights from diverse interest groups. We conducted qualitative, semi-structured interviews with 13 participants representing diverse interest groups: faculty researchers, student researchers, students with lived experience, and staff in post-secondary institutions. The data was analyzed using conventional content analysis. Five themes were identified: (1) lived experience as valued expertise; (2) principles of fair and equitable recognition; (3) current compensation practices; (4) systemic barriers to monetary compensation; and (5) structural solutions and advocacy. Together, themes suggest that lived experience was seen as integral to research design, implementation, and knowledge mobilization. Participants emphasized proportionality, transparency, shared decision-making, and non-coercion as guiding principles. Compensating student partners is not the norm, in part, because there are barriers such as institutional polices and limited funding that are at odds with how we should compensate students. Structural solutions and advocacy to normalize compensation include creating compensation guidelines, reporting compensation practices, and working with grant agencies. Overall, we identified compensation considerations for student partners. Based on our qualitative insights, we recommend underlying principles that should govern recognition practices in this unique research context and potential solutions to normalize the recognition of students’ lived experiences. Post-secondary student mental health research increasingly involves students as partners on research teams, meaning students contribute to shaping research questions and methods, and sharing findings, rather than only taking part as study participants. However, there is little guidance on how to fairly recognize and compensate student partners for their contributions, including the lived experience they bring (i.e., their own experiences of being a student). This study explored how student partners’ contributions should be recognized, based on insights from people involved in this type of work. We interviewed 13 people involved in post-secondary student mental health research, including students, faculty, and staff. We looked across interviews to find repeated ideas and grouped them into key themes. Participants described students’ lived experience as valuable expertise that can strengthen research by improving study design, how research is conducted, and how results are shared. They emphasized the importance of clear expectations, shared decision-making, and making sure recognition matches contribution while ensuring students do not feel pressured to be involved. Participants noted that compensating student partners for their contributions is not common, in part because institutional rules and limited funding create barriers. Suggested ways forward included developing compensation guidelines, reporting compensation practices, and working with funding agencies to better support student partners. Our findings provide practical recommendations to help make fair recognition of student partners’ lived experiences more common in post-secondary student mental health research.
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,590
Funder: University of Toronto
OpenAlex ID: W7222271702