title: Service user involvement: impact and participation: a survey of service user and staff perspectives.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Over the last 20 years governments around the world have promoted user involvement in an effort to improve the quality of health services. Despite the growing emphasis placed on user involvement in England, there is a paucity of recent studies looking at how service users and professionals perceive the outcomes of user involvement policies. This study aimed to examine the overall levels of participation in service user involvement in mental health services among professionals and service users and ascertain their views on the impact of involvement activity on various areas of service delivery.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional survey of service users and providers within community mental health services. The sampling was carried out across three mental health Trusts, two serving people living in inner-city areas and a third covering a mixed rural/urban population. A questionnaire with closed and open ended questions was used to gather the responses of service users and frontline professionals. As a mixed methods study, the analysis consisted of both quantitative and qualitative approaches.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Three hundred and two service users responded to the survey with a response rate of 48%. One hundred and forty three frontline mental health professionals, 26.8% of those approached submitted questionnaires. Almost half of service users (N=138, 45.7%,) and healthcare professionals (N=143, 55.9%) reported having been involved in some form of user involvement activity. Although there were some differences in the responses of service users and frontline professionals, both groups reported that service user involvement was having a positive impact.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings show that, within the three mental health trusts examined in this study, service user involvement has become widespread and is perceived by both staff and service users to be a good policy. The study had some important limitations. The questionnaire used was based on existing literature, however it was not subjected to psychometric testing. In addition, response rates were low, particularly among professionals. Despite the limitations, the findings are encouraging, offering important of insight into views and experiences of service users and healthcare staff. Further studies are needed to assess and investigate the topic on a national level.
authors.affiliation: Service User Research Enterprise (SURE), Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King's College London, De Crespigny Park, London, SE5 8AF, UK. edward.omeni@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Edward
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Omeni
authors.affiliation: School of Applied Social Science, University of Brighton, Mayfield House, Falmer, East Sussex, BN1 9PH, UK. marian.barnes@brighton.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Marian
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Barnes
authors.affiliation: School of Applied Social Science, University of Brighton, Mayfield House, Falmer, East Sussex, BN1 9PH, UK. D.M.MacDonald@brighton.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Dee
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: MacDonald
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Imperial College, Claybrook Centre, Claybrook Road, , Hammersmith, London, W6 8LN, UK. m.crawford@kcl.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Mike
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Crawford
authors.affiliation: Service User Research Enterprise (SURE), Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King's College London, De Crespigny Park, London, SE5 8AF, UK. diana.rose@kcl.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Diana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rose
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003156:Community Mental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004739:England; D005260:Female; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010358:Patient Participation / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires