Gaining by giving? Peer research into service user and carer perceptions of inclusivity in Higher Education

Abstract

Service users and carers (SUAC) have made significant contributions to professional training in social work courses in Higher Education (HE) over the past decade in the UK. Such participation has been championed by government, academics and SUAC groups from a range of theoretical and political perspectives. Most research into the effectiveness of SUAC involvement at HE has come from the perspectives of academics and very little SUAC-led research exists. This qualitative peer research was led by two members of the University of Worcester's SUAC group. Findings were that SUAC perceived their involvement brought benefits to students, staff, the University and the local community. Significant personal benefits such as finding a new support network, increased self-development and greater confidence to manage their own care were identified in ways that suggested that the benefits that can flow from SUAC involvement at HE are perhaps more far-reaching than previously recognised. Barriers to inclusion were less than previously reported in the literature and the humanising effects of SUAC involvement are presented as a partial antidote to an increasingly marketised HE culture.

Keeping us grounded: academic staff perceptions of service user and carer involvement in health and social work training

“…Additionally, the perceptions of academics in this study provided new knowledge around personal benefits derived from SUAC involvement in terms of helping keep them grounded and contemporary, aware of developments across health and social work disciplines and helping with their own CPD. This study did not find that academics perceived SUACs to be primarily involved for their own personal development (Webber and Robinson, 2012), although the benefits to SUACs from HE involvement were seen as significant, as recognised by Rooney, Unwin and Osborne (2016). More significantly, staff perceived that SUAC involvement added value and knowledge to student experiences, while simultaneously enriching the working lives of academics, particularly in respect of challenges presented to value bases and to traditional models of power and knowledge hierarchies (Lea et al, 2016).…”

“…This means, for example, that the content under findings such as 'Ideas for improvement /expansion of involving SUACs', reflected staff and organisational perspectives only. Earlier suggestions by SUACs regarding how to expand and improve involvement can be found in Rooney, Unwin and Osborne (2016).…”

The ‘nuts and bolts’ of including service users and carers in the recruitment of health and social work students in an English university—An interdisciplinary critique

“…The voice of SUACs in health and social care has brought about some changes within qualifying courses at the UK universities where SUACs are to be found in a number or roles across selection, teaching, quality and research 17,18 . However, there is no evidence that their presence in such roles has brought about systemic change in student recruitment and only the study by Tanner et al 19 has attempted to gauge whether the skills, values and knowledge gained by exposure to SUACs from recruitment and in subsequent teaching carries on into qualified practice.…”