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Worldwide, there has been a growth in service user involvement in education and research in recent years. This handbook is the first book which identifies what is happening in different regions of the world to provide different countries and client groups with the opportunity to learn from each other. The book is divided into five sections: Section One examines service user involvement in context exploring theoretical issues which underpin service user involvement. In Section Two we focus on the state of service user involvement in human services education and research across the globe including examples of innovative practice, but also identifying examples of where it is not happening and why. Section Three offers more detailed examination of such involvement in a wide range of professional education learning settings. Section Four focuses on the involvement of service users in research involving a wide range of service user groups and situations. Lastly, Section Five explores future challenges for education and research to ensure involvement remains meaningful. The book includes forty-eight chapters, including seventeen case-studies, from all regions of the world, this is the first book to both highlight the subject’s methodological and theoretical issues and give practical examples in education and research for those wishing to engage in this field. It will be of interest to all service users, scholars and students of social work, nursing, occupational therapy, and other human service subjects.

Background Research funding bodies have significantly increased emphasis on the need for public involvement in research with the requirement to evidence effective methods and approaches to achieving this. Specific definitions and approaches within published research remain tokenistic and vague. Objective The concept analysis explores and clarifies the nature and meaning of public involvement in health and social sciences research and identifies operational definitions which can be used to guide, develop and evaluate public involvement in research activity. Search strategy A literature search was conducted using online databases. Systematic literature reviews and broader studies on the impact of PPI were included as was grey literature such as guidance from INVOLVE and research funding bodies. Limits were set to papers published in the last 10 years and in the English language. A concept analysis framework adapted from Rodgers (Concept Development in Nursing: Foundations, Techniques and Applications. London, UK: Saunders; 2000) and Walker and Avant (Strategies for Theory construction in Nursing. Boston, MA: Pearson Prentice Hall; 2005) was applied. Main results Five operational definitions were developed from the concept analysis: undefined involvement; targeted consultation; embedded consultation; co‐production; and user‐led research. Typical examples of each approach were identified from the literature. Defining attributes included having clear and agreed meaning and purpose for any involvement; reciprocal relationships; and value and recognition of the expertise of all those involved. Conclusions The authors argue the need for researchers to more explicitly incorporate and evaluate details of approaches used. Impact of public involvement on a research study should be identified when reporting on findings to prevent tokenistic practices where involvement is viewed as secondary to the core research process.

Working actively to engage service users in participatory practices is both a policy expectation and a moral imperative for mental health social workers in contemporary Western mental health care. Recent research suggests that such practices of service user involvement are becoming increasingly individualised and driven by market logic. Based on an ethnographic study within a Swedish public psychiatric organisation, this article applies the concept of commodification to examine this trend. By showing how the practice of user involvement takes the form of a market where personal narratives and experiences of mental health problems are bought and sold as commodities, the analysis illuminates how market logic permeates the everyday practice of user involvement. One consequence of this commodification is that user organisations, as well as individual service users, are restricted in their role as independent actors pursuing their own agenda, and instead increasingly act on behalf of the public and as providers of personal experiences. While it is vital that service user perspectives are heard and recognised within mental health services, mental health social workers need to be aware of the risks of commodifying lived experience. When attention is directed to individual experiences and narratives, there is a risk that opportunities to advocate on behalf of the user collective as a whole and speak from a more principled and socio-political standpoint are lost. In addition, the commodification of personal experience tends to rationalise and privilege user narratives that conform to the dominant institutional logic of the mental health organisation, while excluding more uncomfortable and challenging voices, thereby undermining the ability of service users to raise critical issues that do not align with the interests of the mental health organisation.

Patient and public involvement (PPI) increasingly features in the shaping, design, and conduct of mental health research. This review identifies and synthesizes evidence of barriers and facilitators of PPI in mental health research within university settings. The search strategy followed PRISMA guidance and involved keyword searches in eight peer reviewed databases, grey literature, hand searching two journals, requests to national mental health organizations, and backwards and forwards citation searching. We included primary mental health studies on patient and public involvement, with data on facilitators and barriers. Data were extracted capturing author, date and country of publication, study aim, participant and research team composition, data collection and analysis methods, and levels of PPI. Quality appraisal was conducted using the CASP Checklist for Qualitative Research, with an additional item on intersectionality. We conducted an inductive thematic analysis, before holding a peer-debriefing session with a lived experience working group. The final dataset included 51 articles that were either of a qualitative design or contained analyzed qualitative data. Barriers and facilitators were grouped around the following themes: the structure of the research environment, organizational culture, and individual needs. Good practice exists, but the wider research environment and power imbalances within universities constrain PPI. For PPI in mental health research to reach its full potential, the redistribution of power, building capacity for all, the provision of safe working environments, and widening inclusion in the research process are necessary. This review involved researchers with lived experience of mental ill health.

Information technology (IT) implementation is a major organizational change event that substantially disrupts an employee's work environment. We develop a model of technology adaptation behaviors that employees perform to cope with a new IT that causes such disruptions. Our model posits technology adaptation behaviors as a key linking mechanism between IT implementation and employee job outcomes, thus offering a holistic nomological network of technology adaptation behaviors. Two field studies conducted over a period of six months, with four waves of data collection each, in two organizations (N = 211 and N = 181) implementing two different ITs, supported the model. We found that employees performed four different technology adaptation behaviors—exploration-to-innovate, exploitation, exploration-to-revert, and avoidance—based on whether they appraised an IT as an opportunity or a threat and whether they had perceptions of control over an IT. Employees' experiential engagements (i.e., user participation and training effectiveness) and psychological engagements (i.e., user involvement and management support) during the implementation jointly determined their appraisal of an IT. Finally, we found that technology adaptation behaviors influenced changes in two key job outcomes, job performance and job satisfaction.

Background It is a regulatory requirement in the United Kingdom and Australia that people who use services are involved in health professional education. Evaluating service user involvement aims to inform curriculum development and improvement. However, although there is research evaluating service user involvement in medical education, optimal outcome measures for other health professionals have not been identified. Objective This study focused on service user involvement in entry‐level education for nurses, midwives, allied health professionals, social workers and pharmacists. The aim was to (i) identify study characteristics, designs and methods used to measure outcomes, (ii) describe the characteristics of outcome measures used and (iii) identify the extent to which the outcome measures aligned with the modified Kirkpatrick Evaluation Framework. Search Strategy Medline, CINAHL and PsychINFO databases were systematically searched for studies published over a 24‐year period between 2000 and 2024. Two reviewers independently screened studies. A narrative synthesis was conducted. Measures were mapped to the modified Kirkpatrick Evaluation Framework. Results Nineteen studies using 29 measures were selected. Study designs were mostly quasi‐experimental with small university‐based samples. Data were typically collected pre‐ and post‐service user involvement, assessing changes in student knowledge and attitudes. Measures assessed the perspective of students (n = 29) and educators (n = 1), but not the service users' perspective (n = 0). Eight of the measures were validated; four for student health professionals and four for other populations. No measures aligned with the highest levels of the modified Kirkpatrick Evaluation Framework regarding the impact of service user involvement on the health system and patients. Conclusion Limitations in the study designs reduced the comparability and generalisability of the identified studies. None of the measures evaluated the impact of service user involvement on the health system or patients. Educators' perspectives on the service users' involvement in the education were limited. Service users' perspectives were absent. To embed a culture of involvement, future research is needed to identify the requirements of outcome measures from the perspective of service users and educators. Patient and Public Contribution Co‐author (S.R.), a lead for service user and carer involvement at an NHS Trust, guided the study design, data analysis and manuscript development.

Background The perspectives of people who use drugs are critical in understanding why people choose to reduce harm in relation to drug use, what practices are considered or preferred in conceptualizations of harm reduction, and which environmental factors interfere with or support the use of harm reduction strategies. This study explores how people who inject drugs (PWID) think about harm reduction and considers the critical imperative of equity in health and social services delivery for this community. Methods This community-based participatory research study was conducted in a Canadian urban centre. Using a peer-based recruitment and interviewing strategy, semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted by and with PWID. The Vidaview Life Story Board, an innovative tool where interviewers and participant co-construct a visual “life-scape” using a board, markers, and customized picture magnets, was used to facilitate the interviews. The topics explored included injection drug use and harm reduction histories, facilitators and barriers to using harm reduction strategies, and suggestions for improving services and supports. Results Twenty-three interviews with PWID (14 men and 9 women) were analysed, with a median age of 50. Results highlighted an expanded conceptualization of harm reduction from the perspectives of PWID, including motivations for adopting harm reduction strategies and a description of harm reduction practices that went beyond conventional health-focused concerns. The most common personal practices that PWID used included working toward moderation, employing various cognitive strategies, and engaging in community activities. The importance of social or peer support and improving self-efficacy was also evident. Further, there was a call for less rigid eligibility criteria and procedures in health and social services, and the need to more adequately address the stigmatization of drug users. Conclusions These findings demonstrated that PWID incorporate many personal harm reduction practices in their daily lives to improve their well-being, and these practices highlight the importance of agency, self-care, and community building. Health and social services are needed to better support these practices because the many socio-structural barriers this community faces often interfere with harm reduction efforts. Finally, “one size does not fit all” when it comes to harm reduction, and more personalized or de-medicalized conceptualizations are recommended.

This article describes a Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) led creative workshop space held within a clinical trial of a talking therapy for distressing voices (AVATAR2). PPI adds significant value to clinical research and ensures the work is meaningful to patients and their supporters. However, known issues include tokenism, a common power imbalance between PPI colleagues and researchers and a lack of opportunity for PPI to shape the research. PPI has played a key role at all stages of the AVATAR2 trial, including design, recruitment of staff and participants, data collection, analysis, and dissemination. An active and creative group of people was established, with over 30 members flexibly involved across all four sites. PPI group members were from diverse backgrounds, with lived experience of mental health conditions and recovery, and including carers . During this work, PPI colleagues identified that they would value a creative space which would help to promote the study but extend beyond an exclusive focus on trial deliverables. A regular creative workshop was established to support PPI colleagues in their creative work, including material such as poetry, blogs, art and podcasts. PPI colleagues and trial staff have cowritten a reflective piece to share their experiences on the impact of the creative workshops, organised into four themes. We found the workshops to be a powerful tool for forging relationships among trial staff and PPI colleagues, while also fostering personal development. We reflected on how the workshops built up the confidence of attendees and supported demanding trial activities such as public speaking. Finally, we discussed the impact of the workshops on wider trial culture, by upholding the values of the team and challenging the status quo.

Background A polycrisis of rising drug toxicity, pervasive houselessness, pandemic-related disruptions, coloniality and climate disasters is creating and exacerbating health inequities for People Who Use/Have Used Drugs (PWUD). This confluence of intersecting health, socio-political and environmental issues highlights the need for community-driven and adaptive innovation to address inequities in complex systems of care. To inform service innovations in an inner city social service hub in Edmonton, Alberta, we co-created a process that centres PWUD in health service planning and prioritization. Methods Using a community-based participatory research methodology informed by complexity theory, we conducted research with PWUD using SenseMaker micro-narratives and optional arts-based asset-mapping. Academic and peer researchers co-developed the study with input from the PWUD community and collected data at social service hubs and on outreach in the community. An iterative four-phase approach to research design, data collection and analysis guided the study: (i) Pre-data collection, (ii) Formal data collection, (iii) Readjusting, and (iv) Accountability. Results This methodology paper describes how our four-phase framework guided the study and promoted a dynamic and accountable approach to centering PWUD in health system innovation. Over five months, 215 PWUD participants shared narratives and rich insights into their experiences with healthcare access, harm reduction, and community support. Our results emphasise the importance of taking time to orient to each other and the community, even as a diverse team with many preexisting relationships. An iterative data analysis process allowed for adjustments in real-time to guide research focus, ensuring equity-oriented engagement with structurally vulnerable groups. Accountability began with research design, was maintained throughout data collection by creating safety for participants, and then defined the final phase of the research where we created an accessible final report and are now working with the host nonprofit partner and community members on action-oriented responses to the narratives shared. Conclusions Meaningful engagement with PWUD in co-creating health system innovation requires relational and adaptive methodologies. The process-focused results of this study demonstrate how community-based participatory research informed by complexity theory can enable accountable healthcare innovation amidst a changing social and political landscape. We conclude with a set of recommendations for co-creation and other peer-centred approaches that prioritize PWUD voices in developing effective health services.

Background Though growing numbers of peer support workers are employed in the UK National Health Service (NHS), conflicts persist between core values of peer support and values which exert power within these services. Objectives To explore what NHS mental health professionals value about the peer support worker role. Design Five professionals from different professions and mental health settings were interviewed twice. The first interviews explored their experiences of working with peers. Transcripts were analysed using discourse analysis and psychosocial theory. Second interviews allowed participants to respond to the analysis and influence subsequent analysis. Results Mental health professionals valued peers for the deeply empathic, relational approach they brought, based in their subjective experience. Peer work was also valued for the affect‐focused quality of this work, and the challenge peers pose to existing values in mental health services. The values of peer support troubled dominant ways of working based in forms of knowledge that favour objectivity and hence encountered challenges. Conclusions Peers fulfil the role of amplifying the status of diverse forms of knowledge, values and related ways of working that have become marginalized in NHS mental health services. It is important that peers are not seen as an isolated solution to the marginalization of these forms of knowledge and values, but that their way of working becomes reflected in other roles whilst evoking change throughout these services. Patient or Public Contribution Patient and Public Involvement groups were consulted both in the design and analysis stages of the study.