Researching in partnership with service-users: a process with transformative outcomes

Background: Service-user involvement, collaboration and co-construction are buzzwords in mental health research, but ensuring genuine, respectful research partnerships with service-users can be challenging. Service-users have... [ view full abstract ]

Background: Service-user involvement, collaboration and co-construction are buzzwords in mental health research, but ensuring genuine, respectful research partnerships with service-users can be challenging. Service-users have been critical of efforts towards collaboration that are tokenistic, paternalistic, or that can do harm rather than have benefit.
Method: This paper will draw on the experiences of a three year partnership with a group of six people with lived experience of mental ill-health, who co-constructed a study into the experience of studying at university while living with mental ill-health. These participants were involved in a critical reference group that contributed to each stage of the study: study focus, interview questions, participant recruitment, data analysis, conclusions and dissemination of the findings.
Results: The study findings were genuinely grounded in lived experience perspectives as a result of the partnership, and the experience of the collaboration was transformative for me as a researcher. The process, challenges and benefits of this research approach will be discussed, along with tips for optimising collaborations in mental health research.
Conclusions: Research approaches that are genuinely inclusive of service-user or lived experience perspectives, add value to the lives of those impacted by the issue under investigation, and can be transformative for all those involved in the research process.
Application to practice: Understanding and intervening in the occupational lives of people living with mental ill-health requires research that centralises and utilises lived experience perspectives. Authentic partnerships between occupational therapists and services users can make this happen.