Sowing the seeds of change: trainee clinical psychologists' experiences of service user and carer involvement on placement

Abstract

The training of future mental health professionals offers one avenue of change to improve service user and carer involvement in mental health services. This study looked at experiences of trainees on the University of Surrey's Clinical Psychology Doctorate programme in involving service users and carers on training placements. Twenty trainees completed a self-report semistructured questionnaire providing qualitative data that were analysed using thematic analysis. A number of benefits of service user and carer involvement in training were identified as well as practical considerations, including factors that might facilitate or limit such involvement on training placements. It is intended that the findings will prove useful to others involved with the training of mental health professionals.

Service users’ experiences of participation in clinical psychology training

“…A review of this literature indicates that evaluation of service user involvement is neither routine nor standardised. Within clinical psychology training and the higher level education of other mental health professionals, research appears to have favoured evaluating the experiences of students and staff members (Clarke and Holttum, 2013;Holttum and Hayward, 2010;Tickle and Davison, 2008). To this end, increased representation of service users' experiences in published literature has been called for (Happell et al, 2014).…”

Tame clients: an evaluation of service users’ and trainee clinical psychologists’ perspective of service user involvement in teaching

“…Involving service users in formal training of mental health professionals has received much attention in fields including social work (Elliott et al , 2005; Kjellberg and French, 2011), nursing (Forrest et al , 2000), and clinical psychology (Tickle and Davison, 2008). Indeed, it is now a requirement that all educational programmes approved by the Health Care Professional Council (HCPC, 2017) involve service users.…”

“…Despite these difficulties, research does show that involving service users in the training of clinical psychologists can positively impact trainees’ learning and attitudes, such that the “us and them” barrier is broken down (Harper et al ., 2003), awareness of service users’ perceptions of services are increased (Tickle and Davison, 2008) and academic learning moves into the “real life” domain (Schreur et al ., 2015). However, each of these studies focusses on the trainee/student experience and does not report on the experience of involvement from the service users’ perspective.…”

The Group Values of Educational Encounters: Working with Service Users and Students in a Participatory Classroom Environment

“…The wider literature records benefits of involving service users in the education of students in professional educational programs including social work degrees (Elliott et al, 2005;Forrest, Risk, Masters, & Brown, 2000;Gee & McPhail, 2010;Kjellberg & French, 2011;Tickle & Davison, 2008). To date, the literature on the involvement of service users in classroom-based learning has tended to focus on the pedagogical content of such initiatives.…”