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"User involvement is a sine qua non, almost, in medical education": Learning with rather than just about health and social care service users

Rees, Charlotte; Knight, Lynn; Wilkinson, Clare

Authors

Charlotte Rees

Lynn Knight



Abstract

Despite the General Medical Council emphasising the value of service users to medical students' education, there is scant literature about service user involvement in medical education. Although some research has outlined the effectiveness of service users as teachers, none has explored social issues surrounding how medical students learn 'with' rather than just 'about' service users. Incorporating insights from contemporary socio-cultural learning theory, this study examines the views and experiences of 47 stakeholders (comprising 19 service users, 13 medical students and 15 medical educators) concerning service user involvement in medical education. Eight audiotaped focus group discussions were convened and the audiotapes were transcribed. The transcripts and audiotapes were independently analysed by multiple researchers using Framework analysis. Seven content- and five process-orientated themes emerged from the analysis. Content-related themes included the costs and benefits of service user involvement in medical education and process-related themes included the use and function of humour and metaphor. In this paper, we focus primarily on the content-related themes. We discuss these findings in light of the existing service user involvement literature and contemporary socio-cultural learning theory and provide implications for further research and educational practice. We encourage educators to involve service users in medical education but only in a considered way. © 2006 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc.

Citation

Rees, C., Knight, L., & Wilkinson, C. (2007). "User involvement is a sine qua non, almost, in medical education": Learning with rather than just about health and social care service users. Advances in Health Sciences Education, 12(3), 359-390. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-006-9007-5

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Aug 1, 2007
Journal Advances in Health Sciences Education
Print ISSN 1382-4996
Publisher Springer (part of Springer Nature)
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 12
Issue 3
Pages 359-390
DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-006-9007-5
Keywords focus group discussions, health and social care service user involvement, medical education, qualitative research
Public URL https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/1034098
Publisher URL http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10459-006-9007-5