Participation of patients and family members in healthcare services at the service and national levels: A lesson learned in Dublin, Ireland.
Identify the current amount and intensity of patient and family participation at the patient, service and national levels from a diabetes and a psychiatric service perspective. Establish the current level of support for greater participation and related characteristics.



Researcher-administered questionnaires were conducted with 738 patients and family members in an outpatient type 2 diabetes service and an outpatient psychiatric service, both in Dublin, Ireland.



Patient and family participation at the service and national levels are restricted to the provision of information. Typically no involvement in discussions or the decision -making process is reported. The majority of participants favour greater patient participation at the service level (537/669; 80.3%) and the national level (561/651; 86.2%). Greater support for patient and family member participation is significantly associated with participant's age, service satisfaction and level of education.



Patient and family participation is greatest at the patient level. The majority of patients and family members support greater participation at the service and national levels.



The best way to implement participation needs to be identified. There needs to be a greater focus on participation at the service level. The role of family members also needs to be investigated further.
Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Institute of Population Health, Trinity College Dublin, Russell Centre, Tallaght Cross, Dublin 24, Ireland. Electronic address: whistonl@tcd.ie.
Lucy
L
Whiston
Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Institute of Population Health, Trinity College Dublin, Russell Centre, Tallaght Cross, Dublin 24, Ireland. Electronic address: joebarry@tcd.ie.
Joe M
JM
Barry
Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Institute of Population Health, Trinity College Dublin, Russell Centre, Tallaght Cross, Dublin 24, Ireland. Electronic address: Catherine.darker@tcd.ie.
Catherine D
CD
Darker
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D017028:Caregivers; D003657:Decision Making; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000628:therapy; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006296:Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000628:therapy; D008875:Middle Aged; D010358:Patient Participation / Q000523:psychology*
Diabetes; Family participation; Healthcare services; Outpatient; Patient participation; Psychiatric