The approaches that are used to engage community members and specifically members of populations that experience limited access-to-care must reflect careful consideration of the characteristics of diverse stakeholder populations. Stakeholder identification, recruitment and the deliberative process itself needs to be designed to reflect these stakeholder characteristics (e.g., culture, language, power).

For deliberation that takes place within a research team or LIP Core and Management teams, the participants will be the members of those teams. Depending on the focus of deliberation, however, it may be appropriate to invite additional ad hoc participants to ensure that the necessary range of perspectives is represented.

In some deliberative methods (i.e., citizen juries), community representatives are selected at random. However, for our forums, we purposively selected groups to maximise representation while avoiding special interest groups intent on lobbying for a specific position. The method for selecting participants should be clearly stated in the invitation to participate.

Deliberative forums (when appropriate) with community members can be designed to get input from up to 25 participants, including a broad range of stakeholders. Participants can include previously identified active members of the LIP as well as representatives from local government, primary health care organisations, non-health sectors such as housing, transport, education and other human services and the broader general public. Of particular interest are community organisations that represent vulnerable subgroups, such as refugees or recent immigrants, Indigenous populations or groups at socioeconomic disadvantage.

Participants for each of the forums may vary depending on the question (i.e., ensuring those who participate are able to address the specific question). Additional groups may be identified by the LIP Core and Management Teams.