Enhancing service user involvement in care planning
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Enhancing service user involvement in care planning during acute inpatient mental health care pathway.
IRAS ID
230887
Contact name
Thomas John
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Kent
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 8 months, 31 days
Research summary
Service user involvement (SUI) is one of the main guiding principles in mental health practice. Yet whilst there is a wealth of literature that advocates its benefits, its application remains rhetoric, rather than reality. Service Users’ are marginalised from care planning processes, despite the guidance of government policies and recommendations from previous studies. Challenges and barriers for SUI in secondary mental health care vary and the care context must be taken into account. The overarching research question that will be addressed by this study is “How can changes in practice be enabled to embed active service user involvement in care planning during the acute inpatient care pathway?” This qualitative study consists of three chronological phases and will take a context- specific approach to understand the practices that can embed SUI in care planning in acute inpatient settings.
Phase 1 of this study involves Realist Synthesis (RS) to determine interventions that are likely to embed user-involvement in care planning in acute inpatient units. RS will help to understand “what works for whom under what circumstances and why”. Data will be collected from service users’, professionals and stakeholders using focus groups and interviews. The duration of this phase will be nine months.
Phase 2 involves refining and reviewing recommendations and evaluation of changes in practice with a reference group from an established co-production network of service users, carers and mental health staff, based on the findings from phase 1. The duration of this phase will be three months.
Phase 3 involves Implementation of changes and evaluations. Findings from data analysis will be used to modify practices in acute inpatient units through a co-productive approach. Outcomes will be assessed using a co-productively designed evaluation tool and findings will be disseminated. The duration of this phase will be six months.
REC name
London - Camberwell St Giles Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/LO/1681
Date of REC Opinion
30 Nov 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion