This book provides a definitive critical introduction to service user views and involvement. It addresses both the theoretical and practical issues of service user involvement, and includes initiatives on the impact and outcomes from involvement.

In 2006, Social Work Education produced the first special edition (vol. 25, no. 4) on service user and carer involvement in social work education, with all of the articles coming from the United Kingdom. In 2015, a mixed group of service users and social work academics wondered how, and if, the field had moved on since 2006. This publication confirms that it has. Since 2006, service user and carer involvement in social work education has become embedded internationally – this book contains contributions from Australia, Israel, Italy, Norway, Slovenia, the Republic of Ireland and Sweden, as well as all four nations of the United Kingdom. Many of the contributions are jointly written with service users and carers, highlighting the innovative practices which challenge social work academics, students, social workers and managers to think how we can all benefit from learning with, and from, service users and carers. This book ably demonstrates that service users and carers can be effectively involved in social work curriculum planning, delivery, assessment and management. This is not to say that these issues are not without their tension, challenges or struggles, but working with these helps to ensure that the social workers and managers of the future can practice more effectively, meeting service user and carer priorities and needs. The chapters in this book were originally published as a double special issue of Social Work Education.

Service user involvement in research can range from the extremes of being the subject, to being the initiator or investigator, of a research study. The activity of the professional researcher can also range from being the person undertaking the research, to being a partner with, or mentor to, service users. This broad scope of levels of involvement is reflected in the contributions in this book, both in the research experiences reported and in the writing of the chapters themselves. With contributions coming from a range of service areas including learning disabilities, cancer care, older people and mental illness, chapters look at important research issues such as: strategies for working in true partnership avoiding ‘tokenism’ involving service users at all stages of the research process communication and terminology involving service users of different ages and experience training needs of professionals and service users problems surrounding ‘payment’ for service users other ethical and practical issues. This book is invaluable reading for researchers in health and social care from academic, professional and service user backgrounds.

User involvement is now official policy throughout the health and social care system. Does this mean that user involvement practices are unproblematic? Has it lost its radical edge as it has become an accepted part of service delivery, research and policy making? This important text offers a critical stocktake of the state of user involvement, comprising contributions from both user activists and leading academics. The contributors consider different contexts in which involvement is taking place, both in the groups involved and the activities they are engaged in, and includes different and sometimes conflicting perspectives on issues such as whether we should measure the impact of involvement. This valuable collection will be a crucial resource for students in health and social care and in social work, for researchers developing participative research practice, and for user activists seeking to learn how others have developed distinctive ways of challenging professional perspectives. Book jacket.

This textbook provides a greater understanding of the lived effect that social policies have on service users and carers. While service user and carer involvement has become more and more prominent in social policy over recent years, it is rarely the case that the perspectives of service users and carers goes beyond consultation to truly meaningful involvement and co-production. This book is unique in that it has ten substantive co-produced chapters with service users and carers who have direct lived experiences of social policies. The chapters include lived experiences of direct payments, domestic violence and abuse, looked after children, being a foster carer, receiving long term health and social care, welfare to work, mental health, the transition to leaving care and being a carer. The ground-breaking textbook draws on these lived experiences to highlight key lessons that are relevant to social policy, and will provide an impetus towards changes to make such polices better support service users and carers. We hope that this book will inspire academics, policy makers, students and practitioners but, most importantly, it will encourage service users and carers to come forward with their own narratives to further shape social policy.

Service user involvement in mental health research poses specific challenges for both researchers and service users. The book describes the relevant background and principles underlying the concept of service user involvement in mental health research, providing relevant practical advice on how to engage with service users and how to build and maintain research collaboration on a professional level. It highlights common practical problems in service user involvement, based on experience from various countries with different social policies and suggests ways to avoid pitfalls and common difficulties. The book helps researchers decide which level of service user involvement will be adequate for their research activities and what will be feasible in view of the practicalities involved. It is also ideal for service users who are interested in becoming involved in research, providing relevant background information on the possibilities of involvement in professional research.

This unique book provides a rare look at social work and palliative care from the perspective of service users. Drawing on new original research, the authors examine service users' experiences, tracking their journeys through it, exploring the care they receive and the effects of culture and difference through their first hand comments and ideas.