Backgrounds The concept of engaging the community on the results if research or returning individual result to the respective participants seems more of an afterthought than an integral part of research processes. Therefore, the current study aims to assess the impact of research results feedback among study participants from a rural black community of low socio-economic status.

Methods The study was qualitative. The consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ) guiding principle was used to present study findings. Data was collected through qualitative face-to-face in-depth interviews using an interview guide, between September and October 2024 in the Dikgale area, Limpopo province, South Africa. The transcripts were anonymized before entering them into QSR NVivo 10 (QSR International, Warrington, UK) to aid in analysis. The interview data was analyzed using a deductive content analysis method to develop themes.

Results The present study included about 31 individuals of which 79% were women and 29% were men. Most participants in the present study had high school qualification as their highest level of education (74.20%) followed by those with no formal education and primary school level education at 16.15% and 12.90% respectively. Themes, identified through deductive analysis include health and lifestyle awareness, perceived benefits of research participation, community perception of health research, economic and social motivations, and challenges and concerns.

Conclusion The present study shed light on the importance of retaining individual results for participants in health research. The themes that were generated showed that participants altered their lives and health-seeking behavior because of the information they got from participating in research a situation that would not have happened if they did not have the results back.

The authors have declared no competing interest.

This study did not receive any funding

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The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:

The Turfloop Research Ethics Committee under the reference TREC/545/2023 granted approval for ethical considerations: IR.

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All data produced in the present study are available upon reasonable request to the authors