The Health and Well-being of Service User and Carer Educators: a Narrative Enquiry into the Impact of Involvement in Healthcare Education

Authors

  • Christine Rhodes University of Huddersfield
  • Joan Hardy University of Leeds
  • Kath Padgett University of Huddersfield
  • Jools Symons University of Leeds
  • Joannie Tate University of Leeds
  • Susan Thornton University of Leeds

Keywords:

narrative inquiry, health and well-being, service users and carers, involvement, healthcare education

Abstract

Service user and carer involvement is increasing in health and social care educationas a result of UK policy directives and Professional Statutory and Regulatory Body requirements. The study aimed to elicit the accounts of service user and carer educators' experiences in practice-based healthcare education in the UK. The overall aim was to illustrate the impact this has had on their health and well-being. A narrative inquiry approach was adopted in order to give a clearer and stronger voice to service users and carers by making their experience the primary focus of enquiry.
Narratives were collected from five service users and carers who had extensive experience of involvement in healthcare education. The individual narrative material obtained was distilled into key points following a naturalistic perspective, ensuring that the findings and final story were a re-presentation of the narrator's experience.
Participating in the research enabled the service users and carers to articulate specifically how involvement had positively affected their health and well-being. An additional outcome included the personal artefacts that can be utilised in teaching and learning in order to bring the service user and carer voice to life.
This study contributes to the emerging knowledge and understanding that service user and carer involvement in health education can be a truly collaborative, enriching experience,
producing profound personal change, with improvements in health and well-being. Effective involvement is dependent upon appropriate support networks whereby service users and carers develop connections with staff and other service users and carers that result in a sense of belonging.

Author Biography

Christine Rhodes, University of Huddersfield

Christine Rhodes, Department of Health Sciences, School of Human and Health Sciences, University
of Huddersfield, Queensgate, Huddersfield HD13DH, UK
Email: c.a.rhodes@hud.ac.uk, Phone: +44 (0) 1484473407

References

Originally published by The Higher Education Academy

PBLH, Vol 2, Issue 1 (January 2014)

doi:10.11120/pblh.2013.00025

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Published

2016-02-04

How to Cite

Rhodes, C., Hardy, J., Padgett, K., Symons, J., Tate, J., & Thornton, S. (2016). The Health and Well-being of Service User and Carer Educators: a Narrative Enquiry into the Impact of Involvement in Healthcare Education. International Journal of Practice-Based Learning in Health and Social Care, 2(1), 51–68. Retrieved from https://publications.coventry.ac.uk/index.php/pblh/article/view/309