Student perspectives on service user and carer involvement in professional programmes: reflections on a collaborative project

Abstract

Service user and carer participation at all levels of the student journey in professional programmes, including admissions, curriculum development, teaching, assessment and research, can introduce students to a range of diverse voices and perspectives. It can develop an awareness of the lived experience of those they will be working with by helping students to engage with, and be part of a wider community whilst, enriching their learning and preparing them for professional practice (Newman et al, 2021). A service user and carer perspective built into student’s learning can help to shape and enhance the student learning community, support the development of the learning curriculum and support students feel more connected to their courses. This can also help create and develop a student professional identity in different ways for students as future qualified professionals. Much in the same way as service user involvement in design of services is essential to ensuring services are fit for purpose, engagement and inclusion of students in the development and delivery of their curriculum is crucial to support their leaning and help them to feel connected and to their programmes. This collaborative project within the Faculty of Health, provides the opportunity to create a cross school learning community, with students coming together across professional disciplines to engage with their peers to find out the student perspective on service user and carer involvement in their programmes of study. This student led presentation will provide a reflection on the engagement and participatory strategies taken by the project students to access other student voices, and will highlight the findings to date.