Relational, ethically sound co-production in mental health care research: epistemic injustice and the need for an ethics of care

Confronting the Complexities of “Co-Production” in Participatory Health Research: A Critical, Reflexive Approach to Power Dynamics in a Collaborative Project on Parkinson’s Dance

“…Our take on relational ethics is driven by recognition of the complexities of co-production. We build on work on relational research ethics based on the “ethics of care” thinking of Tronto (1993) (e.g., Brannelly & Boulton, 2017; Groot et al, 2019, 2020). Tronto’s ethics of care links caring relationships to power, social inequity, and social justice and, in so doing, merges the agendas of research and activism.…”

“…A second way of redressing power imbalances entails designing the research process to fit the needs of vulnerable, marginalized groups (e.g., Read & Maslin-Prothero, 2011). A third way is based on the understanding that power imbalances are inherent in social relations but nevertheless can be redressed through critical, reflexive analyses of power dynamics (e.g., Abma et al, 2009; Collier & Wyer, 2016; Groot et al, 2019, 2020). In all these ways of redressing power imbalances, power dynamics are treated as obstacles to co-production.…”

“…The main aim is to show how the approach can be put to work as a framework for analysis of the enactment of “co-production” in PHR in order to generate insights into the possibilities and challenges of co-production by confronting the complexities. In so doing, we build on, and hope to contribute to, the body of critical, reflexive analyses of power dynamics in co-production—that is, the third way of redressing power dynamics mentioned above (e.g., Collier & Wyer, 2016; Groot et al, 2019, 2020; Phillips et al, 2018). We do this by applying our approach in analysis of the relational becoming of “co-production” in a research project on dance classes for people with Parkinson’s disease and their spouses.…”

Ethics work for good participatory action research

“…We can see in this story how a process of silencing took place in a participatory project that deliberately intended to include the voice of users (Groot et al, 2020). Silencing is, of course, not unique to participatory research, but is extra problematic because epistemic justice is a guiding value in this approach.…”

“…Who is responsible for the group dynamics in co-research teams?' (Groot et al, 2020) Identity work is related to the development of virtues like courage. Indeed sometimes one has to take a stance, like the Director of the Client Advocacy Organization, who asked about the perspective of clients in the Town Hall meeting.…”