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Service user and carer involvement in education. Dr Elizabeth Boath, Emma Lewis, Prof. Bernard Moss & Wendy Sullivan. Landmarks in SUC Involvement in Education. 1994 Changing the Culture: Involving service users in social work education 1996 Learning from each other
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Service user and carer involvement in education Dr Elizabeth Boath, Emma Lewis, Prof. Bernard Moss & Wendy Sullivan
Landmarks in SUC Involvement in Education 1994 Changing the Culture: Involving service users in social work education 1996 Learning from each other 1999 Patient and Public Involvement in the New NHS 2001 Involving patients and the public in healthcare 2002 Requirements for Social Work Training
Landmarks in SUC Involvement in Education • Learning from experience: involving service users and carers in mental health education and training • Review of the literature on user and carer involvement in the training and education of health professionals • Principles for Practice: involving service users and carers in health care education and training • Participating and Learning: Citizen Involvement in Social Work Education In the Northern Ireland Context: A Good Practice Guide 2007EQuIP (Quality Assurance Framework for Healthcare Education) Skills for Health
Involvement in Education: our students said… • ‘…service users and carers perspective on things are potentially different than an academic…its getting their point of view and generating that understanding. It is really awareness and subsequent empathy.’ (Adult nursing student, 2006) • ‘It is good to have the challenge that the users’ perspective puts on the theoretical knowledge that you gain. It does make you think differently. It challenges what you have learned.’ (Social Work Student, 2006) • ‘It’s the one lecture that sticks out in my mind because it was linked to somebody real.’ (Midwifery student, 2006)
Service user and carer involvement at Staffordshire University – a fly past • Skills lab • Community House • Forensic House • Courtroom • SUCCIT&C • Interview & selection of new students • Teaching
Developing students’ professional communication skills - service users and carers as trainers • One example from practice: introducing the skills lab • The story so far...
The skills lab: over to you • Introducing the documentation • 5 minutes of fame - role play • Feedback
The service user perspective Key things that make the skills lab tick • Training & preparation • Relevant & realistic scenarios • Giving & receiving feedback • Effective administration • Feeling valued
The service user perspective • 3 training sessions • principles of good feedback • practice sessions to become familiar with roles, including group leadership • video-recording technology ‘We all need continual training. We don’t want to practise mistakes. We need to make sure that we remember what is expected …as well as to train new members. ‘ ‘Each year as we’ve progressed through these courses we’ve learned by experience things that have and have not worked well, and those have been noted and brought to training sessions. I think the important thing is to learn lessons from the experience as we go along.’ ‘This type of work is not suited to everyone, and great care was given at the outset to ensure that SUCG members whose strengths lay elsewhere were not involved in the skills lab. This ‘pre-selection’ was based on our experience in previous years, when we had found it necessary to move one or two members into different areas of the SUCG’s work as a result of student and other SUCG feedback. ‘
The service user perspective • Essential to have match between role player and role so that it feels authentic for both role player and student • Library of scenarios ‘We have had a number of very successful scenarios…it would be a good thing to set up a library of successful scenarios that we can draw on over time, rather than discarding them permanently and feeling the need to write a completely new set of scenarios each year. We could then just add successful scenarios to this collection’. (SUCG)
The service user perspective • Focus on communication skills and information gathering ‘The purpose of the Skills Lab is to improve students’ ability to communicate with service users and to give students a chance to build confidence before they go out on placement. Our hope is that through the practice interview sessions in a safe environment they will overcome any nervousness, and will be able to listen to, and hear what service users are telling them, so that this will contribute to their becoming effective and useful social workers. We will also remind them of the need to think about what they say to service users...professional conversational communication skills we are interested in, and not their knowledge of social work.’ ‘(SUCG) • But...some students preoccupied with ‘solving the case’ • Students felt would find the sessions more beneficial if they knew that the person they were interviewing was talking about their own personal difficulties. • Students are being judgemental here, before they even start the interview. How do they know that it is not the case? We do all use our own first-hand and second-hand life experiences in these interviews. (WS) • Further, at this point they do not have enough knowledge and understanding to talk to anyone about their personal problems. We do these sessions so that they can learn to do this in a safe environment without distressing anyone – themselves included. Perhaps students forget they have three years in which to learn, not just one. (EL) • The EL offered an additional comment upon those students who seemed to be quite shocked that they would not be discussing ‘real life’ situations; • such an approach …. could place the role-playing service user or carer in an extremely vulnerable position, and could cause additional difficulties for the student.
Service user and student perspectives • Reflections on the telephone interviews ‘The actual art of conversation is dying; text messaging , email and internet social networking (Face book, Bebo etc) are becoming ever more popular, and as a result students feel they are unable to talk on the telephone as well as they perhaps should. Therefore to practise this can be another confidence builder. (Student) ‘It would be useful if they could be taught how to start and end a telephone call; if these skills come naturally they have a better chance of staying calm and getting all the information they need.’ (SUC)
The Student Perspective Key things that make the skills lab tick • Preparation of students • Relevant & realistic scenarios • Giving & receiving feedback • Effective administration • Feeling valued
The student perspective • Positive experience & positive impact upon learning for the students • each student received a unique learning experience • students learning to develop communication skills • further learning also evident When students review their video tapes and reflect on feedback given, a journey also begins in knowing the self and developing a sense of self-awareness. From video play-back you can see your own reactions, body language and see if what is said actually mirrors body behaviours and innate responses observed. (student 3) “.[it]..really did make you sit and think, and reflect on how some of the little things that perhaps you thought didn’t really matter actually really did matter.” (student 5)
The student perspective • Delivering a skills lab programme to meet everyone’s needs is a major challenge • Students diverse in terms of age, previous experience, and ethnicity • ‘It is an extremely difficult task, to deliver the skills lab programme and ‘get it right every time’ for each student. Learning in the skills lab will be different for each student and a variety of factors will influence this, including age, maturity, life and work experience, personal attitudes towards learning and individual learning styles. Some students are ‘fresh’ out of college; others are older and returning to study after a break, or from bringing up a family; some are progressing their careers while others may be embarking on a career change.’
The Student Perspective ‘Reality is a question of perspective’ (Salman Rushdie) • role plays ‘felt real’, and students became genuinely involved • learning experience felt ‘true to life’ but safe and secure ‘ It didn’t feel like they were doing a role play. It actually felt real.’ (student) ‘I think that they’re fantastic actors, you really do feel that you believed everything that they said, and you forget that the camera’s there because you get really involved with what they’re telling you. ‘ (Student) • .
Read all about it! Funding • Research informed teaching • £3K Funding Academic Development Institute Publications • Moss BR,Boath EH, Sullivan W, Lewis E. Upskilling the Skills Lab: social work students and service users and carers views of the skills lab. Social Work Education (In Press) • Moss BR, Dunkerley M, Price B, Sullivan W, Reynolds M, Yates B. Skills Laboratories and the New Social Work Degree: One Small Step Towards Best Practice? Service Users’ and Carers’ Perspectives. Social Work Education 2007; 26(7): 708–722. • Boath EH, Moss B, Buckley SL, Colgan AJ. The fount of all knowledge: A Delphi study to determine the training required to involve service users and carers in health and social care education and training. Social Work Education. (In press)
Getting to know you! • Who are you? • Where are you from? • In what ways do you involve service users and carers in education?
Island Hopping- small group exercise • Your vision of SUCI for the next 3 years • Draw your map of how you would like things to be • What barriers might you encounter? • How will you overcome them?
