Handbook of Service User Involvement in Nursing and Healthcare Research

This book fills an important niche in the market providing practical expert advice on the involvement of service users - patients, carers and the public - in nursing and healthcare research.   An invaluable guide for anyone working or involved in nursing and healthcare research, this book provides a step-by-step guide to the principles and process of involvement, including understanding the rationale for involvement, designing involvement, working with service users, and evaluating what has been achieved.

With illustrations, worked examples and tool sheets throughout, this evidence-based guide uses real life examples from recent research studies in health and social care research, thus relating theory to practice in a meaningful way. The Handbook of Service User Involvement in Nursing & Healthcare Research introduces a wide range of key issues, including:

• Why? Why should researchers involve service users?
• How? How can researchers and service users work together successfully and productively?
• Who? Who chooses to become involved in research? How are issues of representation and diversity addressed?
• When? At what stage should service users be involved in the research process?

Elizabeth Morrow is Research Associate at the National Nursing Research Unit, Kings College London

Dr Annette Boaz is Lecturer in Translational Research at the Division of Health and Social Care Research, King’s College, London

Sally Brearley is Chair of Health Link, (a not-for-profit organisation aimed at strengthening public influence on health (www.health-link,org.uk), and was former Chair of The Patients Forum (www.thepatientsforum.org.uk)

Professor Fiona Mary Ross is Dean of Faculty of Health and Social Care Sciences, Kingston University and St George’s, University of London