User involvement in efforts to improve the quality of drug misuse services in England: A national survey

Abstract

Aim: To examine the extent of user involvement (UI) in efforts to improve the quality of drug misuse services in England, to identify outcomes of involvement, and explore factors that promote and hinder this process. Methods: Cross-sectional survey of service commissioners, providers and members of user groups in a representative sample of 50 of the 149 English Drug Action Teams (DATs) in England. Findings: We found wide variation in the degree to which systems for involving users had been implemented. Thirty-nine (84.7%) of the 46 DATs that responded reported working with service users, but only 22 (47.8%) involved them directly in commissioning services. User groups had generally been set up with the support of service providers, and had been running for an average of three years. Most stakeholders were able to identify changes to the organization and delivery of services resulting from user involvement, but the impact of these changes on engagement and retention in services has not been examined. Stakeholders reported that cultural, organizational, and individual variables hindered UI, including staff resistance and limited numbers of users willing to be involved. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that most commissioners and providers of drug services in England involve users in efforts to improve service quality. Direct payments to users, effective systems for delivering feedback, and a better understanding of the impact of the outcomes of involvement may help to sustain this process.

Drug service user groups: Only a partial solution to the problem of developing user involvement

“…The work reported here is a component of a multi-method study that examined the extent and nature of UI in the UK drug treatment (Patterson et al, 2007). Study methods, detailed elsewhere (Patterson et al, 2007), are summarized here.…”

“…Study methods, detailed elsewhere (Patterson et al, 2007), are summarized here. The specific aims of this paper are to:…”

True User Involvement by People Living With HIV is Possible: Description of a User-driven HIV Clinic in Norway

“…A C C E P T E D ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT 3 Nilsen, Myrhaug, Johansen, Oliver, & Oxman, 2006;Patterson et al, 2009;Robert, Hardacre, Locock, Bate, & Glasby, 2003;Simpson & House, 2003).…”

The commissioning and provision of advocacy for problem drug users in English DATS: A cross-sectional survey

“…We based our initial drafts on the questionnaire used by Patterson and colleagues to explore DAT approaches to the implementation of user involvement (UI; Patterson et al, 2009). Subsequent revisions reflected intelligence gathered from the analysis of legislation and policy documents, published and grey literature and interviews with key informants.…”

“…In the absence of empirical investigation of factors influencing advocacy in this context (and elsewhere) we were unable to identify variables to support stratification in our sample design. We judged a one-third sample sufficient given previous experience (Patterson et al, 2009) and so selected 50 DATs using SPSS v18 random sample generation function.…”