Service User and Carer Involvement in Education for Health and Social Care

Service user and carer engagement in health and social care, and in the education of practitioners in this area, is emerging as one of the most important new drivers within government policy in a number of countries. However, beyond the rhetoric, there are few guides that address the practicalities of setting up and running such a project. This book is unique in that it will appeal to practitioners, policy makers, and commissioners in health and social care practice and education who buy in to the principles of service user engagement, but who find it hard to know how to progress the practicalities. Based on the set up and running of the unique and very successful Comensus project, this practical and accessible text will provide a framework for building authentic and sustainable community engagement in health and social care education and practice.

Service user and carer engagement in health and social care, and inthe education of practitioners in this area, is emerging as one ofthe most important new drivers within government policy in a numberof countries. However, beyond the rhetoric, there are few guidesthat address the practicalities of setting up and running such aproject.This book is unique in that it will appeal to practitionerspolicy makers, and commissioners in health and social care practiceand education who buy in to the principles of service userengagement, but who find it hard to know how to progress thepracticalities. Based on the set up and running of the unique andvery successful Comensus project, this practical and accessibletext will provide a framework for building authentic andsustainable community engagement in health and social careeducation and practice.

Promoting Partnership for Health.The Comensus Writing Collective: Notes on Authorship.Notes on Language.Introduction.Part I: The Context.1 Service User and Carer Involvement in Higher Education.2 The Social and Political Context.3 Beyond the Campus: Universities, Community Engagement andSocial Enterprise.4 Research and Evaluation of Service Users' andCarers' Involvement in Health Professional Education.5 What Counts Cannot be Counted: Community Engagement as aCatalyst for Emotional Intelligence.Part II: Personal Experiences: The Case of Comensus.6 Setting up a Service User and Carer Engagement Project:Comensus.7 Climbing the Ladder of Involvement: A Manager'sPerspective.8 Stories of Engagement.9 Making Sense of Involvement in Comensus.10 Shedding Masks: Transitions in Mental Health and Education, aPersonal View.Conclusions.References.Appendices.Appendix 1: Research and Evaluation Planning Worksheet.Appendix 2: Terms of Reference for Comensus Advisory Group.Appendix 3: Year One Issues and Solutions.Appendix 4: Terms of Reference for CIT.Appendix 5: COMENSUS: Action Plan 2009.Appendix 6: Year Three Sub-Groups of The Community InvolvementTeam.Appendix 7: Year 3 Issues and Solutions.Appendix 8: Protocol for the Development of Learning ResourcesInvolving Service Users and/or Carers.Appendix 9: Service User/Carer/Public Consent Form.Index.