Dr. Susan M. Lawlor

1. Engaging service users 10TH June 2009, Cork Dr. Susan M. Lawlor

2. Acknowledgements • CSRI, UCC, HSE • Ms. Helena O’ Connor, CNS, Forensic Risk Assessment Trainer • Steljes Ltd; SMART

3. Why involve service users? • Service users are experts • Service users and providers often have very different viewpoints • User involvement can be therapeutic • Helping to shape services which affect them can also help to increase the confidence and self- esteem of users, as well as assist them in developing new skills.

4. Motivations for engagement- what will service users gain from engaging? • patient satisfaction surveys to service users delivering peer support and training • eliminating difficult language and jargon • need to be physically listening to users • patient information leaflets are developed with service users as opposed to without them. • service users want providers to be physically and emotionally available; supportive; encouraging and reassuring; respectful; patient and attentive; committed to the needs of the individuals; trustworthy; reliable; friendly; emphatic and warm. • develop skills such as assertiveness; equal opportunities; communication skills; group work and meeting etiquette further.

5. Service users and qualitative research • Biomedical perspective versus personal experiences • Step 1: Clarify perspectives and assumptions • Step 2: Specify broad research questions • Step 3: Pilot interview • Step 4: In-depth interviews carried out • Step 5: Focus- group interviews carried out • Step 6: Semi- structured interviews carried out • Step 7: Journaling of observations and notes during the in-depth interviews, semi-structured interviews and focus group interviews, and during informal conversations about mental illness • Step 8: Transcribe data, immersion in data; reading and re-reading transcripts; noting significant data segments • Step 9: Question, compare, and naming important data segments; sort and categorise into piles according to emerging themes; set aside data segments that represent categories that appear insignificant, or are interesting but are not relevant to the research question (open coding) • Step 10: Examine and integrate propositions, develop conceptual framework and theoretical response to research question (selective coding) • Step 11: Write up discussion, findings, and conclusions.

6. Interviewing techniques for engaging with users to empower them: • Build a trusted relationship- users need to feel respected and understood • Help users to explore and resolve any ambivalence • Generally, the style used is a quite and eliciting one • The tone of your voice is instrumental in eliciting answers from users • Work with and for users as opposed to acting like their superior • Explore their life experiences, morals, values and goals in order to develop a compatible working relationship with them • Show emphatic understanding i.e. put yourself in their position • Remain un-judgemental, un-critical, patient, and open- minded • Acknowledge their fears, anxieties and concerns • Develop future goals together and encourage them to have positive goals • Build up their confidence by involving them in decision- making process • Actively listen • Present advice as neutral information

7. Ensuring active engagement: • Allowing service users to be involved in any advisory group • Providing them with notice and reminders of events • Flexibility • Ground rules for ‘voicing’ their opinions and experiences • Benefits/ incentives to engage i.e. guest speakers, travel fares, food and drink • Avoid empty promises- follow through on what you agreed on/ discussed • Encourage service users who take on new challenges such as learning about meeting etiquette

8. Group WorkQuestions that need to be posed include: • Which organisations are already working with you and how? • Are there any local and/or national groups that should be involved? • Where are the gaps? • How will we include groups for young people, mental health, people with disabilities, the elderly, and people from ethnic minority backgrounds? • Will we work with one or several users or groups of trainers or with a range of local groups? • How many people do we need? • What level of involvement, and from whom, do we need to meet our requirements? • How well is the service user’s involvement working and what needs to be changed? • What training and support is available?