A systematic review of the evidence on service user involvement in interpersonal skills training of mental health students

Abstract

Service user involvement has become a common feature of education programmes for mental health students. However, little is known about the effects of this type of education on the interpersonal skills of students taking part. This paper reports findings from a systematic review that formed part of a wider investigation into service user involvement in teaching interpersonal skills. The review aimed to locate and assess the quality of the published evidence relating to the effects of service user involvement on mental health students interpersonal skills and to synthesize results, using a definition of interpersonal skill that includes attitudes, empathy and skills as its key components. Results from this study indicate that the quality of evidence in this area is poor. However, sufficient synthesis of the evidence base was possible to allow conclusions and recommendations for both research and practice. Conclusions were that the involvement of service users in this area is both acceptable and valuable for students and had specific impacts on attitudes, empathy and skills. Some difficulties and reservations about the style of involvement are discussed. Recommendations for the conduct of future research are also made.

Could a short training intervention modify opinions about mental illness? A case study on French health professionals

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Partage du savoir expérientiel : regard sur la contribution des patients partenaires d’enseignement en sciences infirmières

“…Certaines études rapportent des préoccupations des étudiants liées à un type d'activité de formation qui s'éloigne des contextes d'apprentissage traditionnels (Perry et al, 2013) ou quelques doutes quant à l'utilité de la rétroaction effectuée par le patient (Morgan & Jones, 2009). D'ailleurs, une étude effectuée au Danemark montre que les étudiants en médecine perçoivent avec un certain scepticisme la cré-dibilité du savoir expérientiel lors d'un apprentissage avec un instructeur patient dans le contexte d'une session dirigée à la fois par des enseignants et des patients (Henrikson, 2014).…”

What difference does it make? Findings of an impact study of service user and carer involvement on social work students’ subsequent practice

“…Literature resulting from this has shown that students highly evaluate experiences which involve service users and carers; that involvement can motivate students and practitioners to implement changes to their practice in innovative ways (Khoo, McVicar and Brandon, 2004); that involvement improves students' attitudes toward people with particular conditions or experiences (MacSporran, 2015) and can make educators reflect more deeply on the way they communicate (Perry, Gilbert and Rawlinson, 2013). There is evidence that meaningful involvement can facilitate transformative learning (Mezirow, 2001) where students learn to critically question their own beliefs and views of the world and develop a more open and inclusive approach to their practice (Rush, 2008;Author's own, 2012).…”