Developing service user involvement in the South Korean disability services: lessons from the experience of community care policy and practice in UK

Abstract

This paper considers the scope for the integration of service user involvement within services for people with disabilities in South Korea at a time of rapid development in social policy and practice. Using the UK experience of introducing community care and a mixed economy of service provision over the last 14 years, this paper considers the barriers to service user involvement inherent in the South Korean context and concludes that in a society where there is a shortage of services and a provider-orientated delivery system where most services are delivered by voluntary organisations, more public services are needed and a 'democratic' rather than a consumerist approach to user involvement is required. Some elements of the UK system could inform the development of a systematic approach to user involvement in South Korea, notably the right to assessment within a care management structure, the setting of quality care standards and inspection processes and a complaints procedure.

Intention to use physical and psychological community care services: a comparison between young‐old and older consumers in Korea

“…It shows the moderating effect in that lack of retirement preparation has a much higher impact on older consumers who have financial constraints, so that they need more physical community care services. In line with this result, community care services must ensure the right to access without discrimination as a public care system (Kim and Ross, ).…”

Home movies in participatory research: children as movie-makers

“…In South Korea, disability has been associated with family shame, social stigma, discrimination and exclusion, while processes of modernisation and globalisation have brought influences from Western cultures (Yim, 2002), and disability welfare policies have been introduced and developed (Kim & Ross, 2008). Autism has been officially categorised as a disability since 2000.…”

Patient and public involvement in urogynecology: a pause for reflection before taking a leap

“…Politically, the philosophy is to empower individuals and communities to shape and monitor health service delivery and ensure that resources are allocated according to local needs. This trend originated in the United Kingdom and is spreading to other countries such as South Korea [8], Italy [9], Ireland [3], and Norway [10]. Urogynaecology has pioneered the use of quality of life questionnaires in patient evaluation and follow-up after treatment.…”