Opening communicative space:what do co-researchers contribute?

Current participatory research literature describes different approaches to involving service users in research, draws out lessons to be learned from the process and begins to address the difficult question of the impact of service user involvement on the research outcomes. However, very limited attention has been given to analysing in detail ‘what goes on’ in interviews carried out by service users or considering what difference their interactions make to the interview content and process. This article draws on principles of conversation analysis (CA) and member categorisation analysis (MCA) to examine how co-researchers and participants practically accomplish research interviews. Using Habermas’s distinction between communicative and strategic action as a framework, the article addresses the questions of whether and how co-researchers open communicative space in semi-structured interviews. Two dimensions are highlighted in the analysis: co-researchers’ interviewing skills and their ability to forge connections with participants. It is concluded that both components are necessary to open communicative space and generate co-produced knowledge. This detailed empirically-grounded analysis of co-researcher/participant interactions is both innovative and significant in enhancing understanding of co-researcher contributions to participatory research. </jats:p

Sustaining the self in the 'fourth age': a case study

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to illuminate from the perspective of an older person (Harriet) the factors that support and jeopardise mental well-being in the fourth age. Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on unstructured narrative interviews with an older woman who was originally interviewed for a previous research study 15 years ago. At that time she was aged 82; she is now aged 97. This paper explores themes of change and continuity in her experience of ageing with a view to re-evaluating the model of sustaining the self-developed in the earlier study and comparing the findings with current conceptions of the fourth age. Findings Harriet’s previous efforts to remain independent have been replaced by an acceptance of dependency and diminished social relationships and activity. However, she retains significant threads of continuity with her earlier life and employs cognitive strategies that enable contentment. Her experience of advanced old age fits conceptions of neither the third nor fourth age, indicating the need for more sophisticated and nuanced understandings. Originality/value The paper is original in exploring the lived experience of someone in advanced age across a 15 year time period. Its value lies in rendering visible the factors that have promoted and/or undermined her mental well-being and in generating insights that can be applied more generally to experiences of advanced age. </jats:sec

Chapter 11 Understanding the Social Care Crisis in England Through Older People’s Lived Experiences

The chapter’s focus is social care in England where responsibility for the organisation and funding of care has shifted from the state to the individual. It draws on a qualitative research project about the experiences of older people who are paying for their social car

Participatory research meets validated outcome measures:tensions in the co-production of social care evaluation

Funding for care service research is increasingly subject to the satisfaction of two requirements: public involvement; and adoption of validated outcome tools. This study identifies competing paradigms within these requirements and reveals significant challenges faced by researchers who seek to satisfy them. The focus here is on a study co-produced between academic researchers and people with experience of adult social care services. It examines to what extent research studies can conduct high quality public involvement and genuine co-production of knowledge, whilst attempting to produce quantifiable outcome scores. Findings add to debate around how to incorporate diverse perspectives in research which may draw on incommensurate accounts of validity and reliability. Findings also highlight constructive attempts by academic and co-researchers to make the combination of approaches work in the field. These small scale acts of researcher agency indicate some scope to combine the two approaches in future research studies. However conclusions foreground the importance of broader awareness of how tensions and power imbalances related to this combination of approaches play out in social policy research practice

When it comes to carers, you've got to be grateful that you've got a carer coming in: Older people's narratives of self funded care in England

The number of older self-funders in England is growing in the context of tight eligibility criteria and fixed financial thresholds to access statutory adult social care. Older people who self-fund their social care fall largely under the radar of statutory services and of research. Our study aimed to listen closely to the stories that older people tell about finding, managing and paying for their care. We interviewed 65 older people living in the community who were funding all or some of their social care. This paper focus on narrative analysis of selected transcripts from these interviews. It sheds light on how older people represent their experiences of self-funding and what underpins these constructions. A key finding is that the disjunctions within older people’s accounts between the care they want and the care they receive reflects wider political and structural tensions in the funding and delivery of care. Older self-funders temper their expectations in light of their experience of shortfalls in the system. This enables them to adjust to the deficiencies but obscures and perpetuates poor care. The discussion considers the findings in relation to: the fundamental disjunction between body labour and commodified care; the shared precarity of older people and care workers; and the individualisation of risks that makes older people and their carers responsible for making a failing care system ‘work’. Our analysis adds to the case for major reform of adult social care, including a revaluing of the status and employment conditions of front-line care workers

Co-research with older people:perspectives on impact

Although research in partnership with older people has been slower to develop than that with some other service user ‘groups’, there are a growing number of health and social care studies that have involved older people as co-researchers. We build on this existing evidence by addressing two key areas. First, despite the growth of participatory research with older people generally, some groups tend to be excluded. We focus particularly on a project in which older people with dementia and older people from a black and minority ethnic community were involved as co-researchers. They worked with academic researchers in all stages of the research process, exploring other older people’s experiences of transitions between care services. Second, recent literature suggests a lack of critical evaluation of involvement, arguing that researchers tend to emphasise the positives on the basis of retrospective narrative accounts of the process, rather than critically appraising the impact of involvement. This article offers a critical account of the impact of a participatory approach at different stages of a research project, evaluating this from the perspective of different stakeholders. In so doing, we engage with incisive critiques which claim that, far from empowering service users, much service user involvement activity contributes to their oppression. We conclude that participatory research with marginalised older people has the potential to achieve meaningful change at both individual and social levels. However, in view of its dangers and limitations, we argue the need for the impact of participatory research to be carefully evaluated from the perspectives of all parties in the process. </jats:p