Critical perspectives on user involvement

Marian Barnes is professor of social policy at the University of Brighton. Phil Cotterell is a senior research fellow at the University of Southampton.

This original and insightful reader provides a critical stock take of the state of user involvement and will be an important resource for students studying health and social care and social work, researchers and user activists.

Introduction: From margin to mainstream ~ Marian Barnes and Phil Cotterell; Part one: User movements: Survivors History Group takes a critical look at historians; The Nottingham Advocacy Group: A short history ~ Marian Barnes and Colin Gell; Building solidarity, ensuring diversity: Lessons from service users' and disabled people's movements ~ Peter Beresford and Fran Branfield; Service users and the third sector: Opportunities, challenges and potentials in influencing the governance of public services ~ Graham P. Martin; The capacity, impact and challenge of service user's experiential knowledge ~ Phil Cotterell and Carolyn Morris; Part one: user movements, questions for reflection; Part two: User involvement in services: Introduction ~ Marian Barnes and Phil Cotterell; Collaboration in the public services: Can service users and staff participate together? ~ Michelle Farr; Changing patterns of service user involvement 1990-2010 ~ Clare Evans and Ray Jones; Looking out from the middle: Influencing policy change through user involvement ~ Joe Duffy and Brendan McKeever; Changing minds: Unleashing the potential of mental health service users - a critical perspective on current models of service user involvement and their impact on wellbeing and 'recovery' ~ Stephanie McKinley and Sarah Yiannoullou; Moving forward: Understanding the negative experiences and impacts of patient and public involvement in health service planning, development and evaluation ~ Sophie Staniszewska, Carole Mockford, Andy Gibson, Sandy Herron-Marx, Rebecca Putz; Part two: User involvement in services, questions for reflection; Part three: User involvement in research: Introduction ~ Marian Barnes and Phil Cotterell; Young mothers' experiential knowledge and the research process ~ Geraldine Brady, Geraldine Brown, and Corinne Wilson; Involving young people in research: making an impact in public health ~ Louca-Mai Brady with Ellie Davis, Amrita Ghosh, Bhavika Surti and Laura Wilson; Projects through Partnership: Promoting participatory values throughout the research process ~ Rob Kirkwood; Involving older people: empowering engagement? ~ Elizabeth Ward and Beatrice Gahagan; 'Still out there?' Is the service user voice becoming lost as user involvement moves into the mental health research mainstream? ~ Kati Turner and Steve Gillard; Service user-led research in the NHS: wasting our time? ~ Patsy Staddon; Should we? Could we? Measuring Involvement ~ Rachel Purtell, Wendy Rickard and Katrina Wyatt; Evaluating the impact of public involvement on research ~ Rosemary Barber, Jonathan Boote, Glenys Parry, Cindy Cooper and Philippa Yeeles; Part three: User involvement in research, questions for reflection; Conclusion: Critical and different perspectives on user involvement ~ Marian Barnes and Phil Cotterell.