Service users involvement in research and teaching: is there a place for it in eastern European social work

Authors:
ZAVIRSEK Darja, VIDEMSEK Petra
Journal article citation:
Ljetopis Socijalnog Rada, 16(2), December 2009, pp.207-222.
Publisher:
University of Zagreb
Place of publication:
Zagreb

The article presents three major prerequisites for users participation in research: the ‘narrative turn’ in social sciences and in social work; the impact of disability movements and other social movements in local contexts for the development of user participation; the need for the development of an anti-paternalistic, strengths and resilience-oriented perspective of the professionals towards service users. In Eastern European countries which lack all of these three essentials, user participation and involvement in research still demand a lot of cultural and professional changes. This article presents two 2007 case studies of user involvement in research and teaching in Slovenia,  where a group of mental health service users from Ljubljana were trained to become researchers in group homes for people with mental health problems. They had proven, like most of the western studies on this matter, the need for participatory research in social work in order to gain a deeper understanding of the everyday experiences of service users. Since 1999 more service users, especially those experiencing mental health problems were invited to give lectures and seminars to the social work students at the University of Ljubljana. The article analyses their experiences including the one of the ‘glass ceiling’ in the dominant culture of the power-knowledge discourse.

Subject terms:
mental health problems, participatory research, service users, teaching methods, training, user participation, case studies;
Location(s):
Slovenia
Link:
Journal home page
ISSN print:
1846 5412

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