Benefits for students
Research into service user involvement in health and social care education has shown that there are positive benefits to students on both pre-registration and continuing professional development programmes. Feedback shows that involvement is generally highly valued by students.
Benefits identified include:
- Increased empathy and improved communication skills (Wood and Wilson Barnett 1999)
- Greater understanding of how nurses' interventions affect patients (Frisby 2001)
- Positive changes in attitudes (Happell and Roper 2003; Rush 2006)
- Raised awareness about how care can be improved (Khoo, McVicar and Brandon 2004)
- Developing ability to work in partnership with service users (Barnes, Carpenter and Dickinson 2006)
- Positive changes to students' practice and the potential for transformative learning (Rush 2008)
