The impact of personalisation on people from Chinese backgrounds: accounts of social care experience

The limited research that considers people from black and minority ethnic communities experiences of personalisation tends to focus on personal budgets rather than personalisation per se. This article provides an opportunity to hear the voices of people from Chinese backgrounds and their experiences of personalisation. The study used individual semi-structured interviews and focus groups to collect data from people from Chinese backgrounds who lived in England, were aged between 18 and 70 and received social care for a physical disability. Data were analysed using an iterative and thematic approach, with early analysis informing the subsequent analytical rounds. The findings reveal that personalisation has the potential to transform the lives of people from Chinese backgrounds, especially when tailored support is available for people to understand and access personal budgets and put them to creative use. However, the impact of personalisation is barely evident because few eligible individuals access personal budgets or participate in co-production. This is related to a lack of encouragement for service users to become genuine partners in understanding, designing, commissioning and accessing a diverse range of social care services to meet their cultural and social care needs

Peer advocacy in a personalized landscape:The role of peer support in a context of individualized support and austerity

Whilst personalization offers the promise of more choice and control and wider participation in the community, the reality in the United Kingdom has been hampered by local council cuts and a decline in formal services. This has left many people with intellectual disabilities feeling dislocated from collective forms of support (Needham, 2015). What fills this gap and does peer advocacy have a role to play? Drawing on a co-researched study undertaken with and by persons with intellectual disabilities, we examined what role peer advocacy can play in a context of reduced day services, austerity and individualized support. The findings reveal that peer advocacy can help people reconnect in the face of declining services, problem-solve issues and informally learn knowledge and skills needed to participate in the community. We argue that peer advocacy thus offers a vital role in enabling people to take up many of the opportunities afforded by personalization

A knowledge translation project on community-centred approaches in public health

This paper examines the development and impact of a national knowledge translation project aimed at improving access to evidence and learning on community-centred approaches for health and wellbeing. Structural changes in the English health system meant that knowledge on community engagement was becoming lost and a fragmented evidence base was seen to impact negatively on policy and practice. A partnership started between Public Health England, NHS England and Leeds Beckett University in 2014 to address these issues. Following a literature review and stakeholder consultation, evidence was published in a national guide to community-centred approaches. This was followed by a programme of work to translate the evidence into national strategy and local practice. The paper outlines the key features of the knowledge translation framework developed. Results include positive impacts on local practice and national policy, for example adoption within National Institute for Health and Care Evidence (NICE) guidance and Local Authority public health plans and utilisation as a tool for local audit of practice and commissioning. The framework was successful in its non-linear approach to knowledge translation across a range of inter-connected activity, built on national leadership, knowledge brokerage, coalition building and a strong collaboration between research institute and government agency