Details of five recent articles on service user and carer involvement in education

[Jill Anderson]

Petra Videmšek (2017): Expert by experience research as grounding for social work education, Social Work Education

This article is based on an investigation that involves five experts by experience in the field of mental health and eight students of social work. Both groups investigated the experiences of people with mental ill-health living in group homes. The article identifies the advantages if the researchers are expert by experience and the epistemological shift produced by the inclusion of people with the lived experience. Expert by experience research is a challenge to both experts by experience and for social work practice since it promotes the basic principle of social work as the science of doing. This study was based on the assertion that the real integration of theory and practice will not come from a rigid body of knowledge, but from the humility to learn from experts by experience.

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Hilda Loughran & Gary Broderick (2017): From service-user to social work examiner: not a bridge too far, Social Work Education

The engagement of service-users in social work education has now become a recognised and accepted imperative. There are various ways in which this engagement can be formulated. This paper will address one such area that of developing a meaningful role for service-users in the assessment of social work learning. In partnership with a drugs rehabilitation centre in Dublin and University College Dublin (UCD), the authors worked with service-users in developing a curriculum and assessment method for a module on a Masters of Social Work programme. This paper describes how mixed-method research approach was used to engage both service-users and students in exploring and evaluating the assessment process. Both participant groups gave their informed consent to participate in focus groups, assignments, feedback and reflection activities. The findings indicated that service-users were keen to influence the way that social workers carried out assessments, and that social work students were, in turn, influenced by these views. The paper concludes with an appeal for such participatory approaches to social work education and learning where service-users can play meaningful roles in the important areas of student learning.

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Mel Hughes (2017): What difference does it make? Findings of an impact study of service user and carer involvement on social work students’ subsequent practice, Social Work Education

This paper reports on a study which followed up a group of social work students to explore whether service user involvement in their education made any difference to their practice and whether there were different models or types of involvement which had a more significant impact than others. The findings showed that the impact was individual to each student. It was often specific encounters or ‘light bulb moments’ which led to increased awareness or insight into their own practice particularly when encountering similar situations or when pressures of practice led to them losing sight of service user perspectives. The paper shares these findings and considers the learning for educators in developing models of involvement which enhance impact on subsequent practice.

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Laging, M. & Heidenreich, T. (2017) Service user involvement in social work education: experiences from Germany and implications for a European perspective, European Journal of Social Work

Service user involvement (SUI) in social work education has gained widespread attention in Europe and other continents. Nevertheless, experiences on including service users in social work education have not been reported from Germany or other German-speaking countries to date. This paper reports preliminary experiences with implementing SUI in a bachelor’s programme of social work in a German University of Applied Sciences. The main goals of the current paper are (1) to provide a background for implementing service user approaches in Germany by introducing the structure of social work education in Germany; (2) to report experiences from a weekend seminar where service users worked together with students of social work in the framework of a curriculum of a German University of Applied Sciences and (3) to formulate some implications of these experiences for SUI across Europe. The main results were that introducing service user involvement into a German curriculum of social work is possible but needs careful reflection and planning. Experiences gathered in the weekend seminar with service users were encouraging for service users, students and teachers. We conclude that systematically implementing SUI into German curricula of social work is important.

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Feijoo-Cid, M. et al (2017), Expert patient illness narratives as a teaching methodology: A mixed method study of student nurses satisfaction, Nurse Education Today, Volume 50 , 1 - 7

Objective: To evaluate nursing students' satisfaction with Expert Patient Illness Narratives as a teaching and learning methodology based on patient involvement. Methods and Design: Mixed methods were used in this study: online survey with quantitative and qualitative items designed by researchers. Settings and Participants: Sixty-four nursing students of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, attending a Medical Anthropology elective course.

Results: Women more frequently considered that the new learning methodology was useful in developing the competency “to reason to reason the presence of the triad Health-Illness-Care in all the groups, societies and historical moments” (p-value = 0.02) and in that it was consolidated as a learning outcome (p-value = 0.022). On the other hand, men considered that this methodology facilitated the development of critical thinking (p = 0.01) and the ability to identify normalized or deviant care situations (p = 0.007). Students recognized the value of Expert Patient Illness Narratives in their nursing training as a way to acquire new nursing skills and broaden previously acquired knowledge. This educational innovation improved nursing skills and provided a different and richer perspective of humanization of care. Conclusions: The results of the present study demonstrate that nursing students found Expert Patient Illness Narratives satisfactory as a learning and teaching methodology, and reported improvement in different areas of their training and also the integration of new knowledge, meaning, theory applicability, as well las critical and reflective thinking. Involvement of patients as storytellers also provides a new humanizing perspective of care. Nonetheless, further studies of Expert Patient Illness Narratives are needed in order to improve its benefits as a teaching and learning methodology.