Download Service users as important participants to make innovative actions in

Kristin Humerfelt, Ass. Professor /PhD-candidate
University of Stavanger
N-4036 Stavanger
Norway
Service users as important participants to make innovative
actions in social work practice
-a co-operative inquire research project between practitioners in a Norwegian
municipal social service agency, service users with drug/ alcohol problems and
employed at a university of Norway
The aim for the paper
The aim for this paper is to discuss factors that are essential for organizing an collaborative
methodical process that opens for the informant’s (practitioners and service users) lifeworld
and enable the creation and development of knowledge that result in innovative actions in
social work practice.
Background
The paper is founded in a research entitled: Individual plan – a useful tool for service users
with drug related problems? -with focus at users perspective.
An individual plan is legally established by the Norwegian government by 2001. It is a type of
contract that service users with compound and long lasting needs for health- and social
services can agree to establish in collaboration with health- and social services. The statuary
provision gives first of all service users the rights to receive an individual plan to organize
their health- and social services requirements. Secondly it gives the service users the right to
collaborate and to be involved in the making and in the following-up care of the plan. Third it
gives the duty to practitioners to enable for users involvement. The aim for the individual plan
is to give service users coordinated, holistic and individual customized health- and social
services. In this research the service users are people with drug related problems. The aim
of the research is to contribute with solutions for best practice, based at knowledge about the
conditions that contribute to the success or failure of reaching the goal of coordinated,
holistic and individually customised health- and social services to service users with
drug/alcohol problems - and with a user involvement perspective.
The research questions
The main question is:
Is individual plan a useful tool to help social- and health service users with drug/alcohol
problems?
With sub questions:
 Do service users and practitioners experience that individual plan lead to coordinated,
holistic and individual customized health- and social services?
 What do the service users experience as promoting or restraining their possibilities to
involve in the process of making and follow-up care of the individual plan?
 What do the practitioners experience as promoting or restraining their possibilities to
enable for users involvement in the process of making and follow-up care of the
individual plan?
 What is challenging in the work with individual plan with services users with drug
related problems?
Interest
It is of interest to find out if individual plan is or how it can be a useful tool to help people with
drug/alcohol problems, because studies show that the numbers of Norwegian people with
drug related problems are increasing, at the same time as studies show that they have low
status in western society that lead to often marginalized and badly prioritized in the access of
health- and social services (Fekjær 2004).
Theoretical grounding and methodical approach:
The research is theoretical grounded in subjective epistemology and social constructivism
where reality and knowledge is seen as constructed by people in interaction and influenced
by their historical, cultural and social context. Reality is therefore unique, subjective but might
in some degree also bee intersubjective among people that share context.
The theoretical grounding is first of all shown in the way the research is based on questions
that are open for how the informants experience their ‘lifeworld’, a world that are unique,
subjective and numerous, - instead of seeking to verify the researchers hypothesis.
Secondly the theoretical grounding is shown in the choice of quality methods inspired by
Peter Reasons (1988) “Co-operative inquiry”. A method that opened for collaboration among
service users, practitioners and a scientist in an open ended hermeneutic- phenomenological
process, that was marked by the enterprise- were all participants in some degree took part
as co-researchers. All participated in deciding on what to be looked at, the methods of
inquiry, and making sense of what was found out, and contributed to the action that after
some time was evaluated. It was a process where all that happened were results of dialogs
between service users, practitioners and scientist.
The challenge in a process like this is to organize an process that stimulates all partners to
participate and enable a creative and confident culture that develop useful and knowledge
that can result in innovative solutions. The practitioners, the service users and scientist were
emphasized to be as equal and mutual as possible in their work of partnership. The
knowledge of experience, of practice and of science were considered of equal value,
although they are different and unique. The importance of the partners’ consciousness about
the complementary and the dependency that lies between the three types of knowledge was
stressed in the dialogue. The research process’ imminent proximity to the practitioners and
service users ’lifeworld, real-context and real-social-work-cases were seen as the core to
develop sustainable knowledge.
The results of this research show the importance of including the service users in the
methodical process -not only the practitioners, but also the service users with drug/alcohol
problems as partners, as co - researchers -to be able to develop a process that enable to
create knowledge that contribute with innovative solutions for improving social work practice.