Evaluation of the involvement of service users in post-qualifying social work education

Burrows, Helen

doi:10.1921/095352212x655339

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 21 publications

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“…925-926). Whilst progress is being made in SUCI, Campbell's (1996) argument that involvement can appear tokenistic and lacks meaningful outcomes, has retained its relevance over two decades (Brkić and Jugović, 2009;Burrows, 2011;Carey, 2009;Sadd, 2011). McLaughlin (2009) and Robinson and Webber (2013) have called for greater service user and carer involvement in social work education that explicitly engages with outcomes in practice (Levels 3 and 4, Table 1).…”

Section: Work Inmentioning

confidence: 99%

Outcomes focused user involvement in social work education: applying knowledge to practice

Levy

Aiton

Doig

et al. 2016

Social Work Education

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This paper discusses an innovative approach connecting service user and carer involvement (SUCI) in social work education to social work practice. The research team, comprised of service users, carers, social work students and module leader, worked collaboratively democratising the research process. At the University of Dundee a core social work module facilitates for students to spend 15 hours with a service user and/or carer (host) gaining a unique insight into their everyday lives. During this time hosts and students discuss two policy practice questions, responses to these questions are generating annual qualitative data, with study findings being disseminated at local and national level. The experiential learning students acquire from spending time with their host becomes the site of knowledge creation through involvement that is applied to practice. This paper reports on the narratives emerging from the longitudinal data (2012-15, n = 90) on the changing landscape of social care in Scotland and the dissemination of project findings. We explore the intersection where the voices of service users and carers, student learning and social work practice coalesce. A model of outcomes focused SUCI is introduced as a template for meaningful, sustainable and outcomes focused SUCI in social work education. Key Words: Social work education; User involvement; Knowledge; Outcomes; Social work practice IntroductionDebate around service user and carer involvement (SUCI) in social work education is maturing as the process of involvement is problematized. The context of involvement is being revisited through calls to broaden the focus on the 'how' of involvement to also include the 'impact' of involvement on student learning, social work practice and, ultimately the lives of service users and carers. The genesis of the SUCI in social work education debate is threefold, located in the mandatory requirement for SUCI in social work education (Scottish Executive, 2003), epistemological debates around knowledge production and what is valued as knowledge for social work education and practice (Beresford and Boxall, 2012), and outcomes of involvement in practice. Robinson and Webber's (2013) review of the SUCI literature found no empirical evidence on outcomes in practice, however, a recent paper by Tanner et al. (2015) has begun to address this omission.

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