Table of Contents

Promoting Partnership for Health.

The Comensus Writing Collective: Notes on Authorship.

Notes on Language.

Introduction.

Part I: The Context.

1 Service User and Carer Involvement in Higher Education.

2 The Social and Political Context.

3 Beyond the Campus: Universities, Community Engagement and Social Enterprise.

4 Research and Evaluation of Service Users’ and Carers’ Involvement in Health Professional Education.

5 What Counts Cannot be Counted: Community Engagement as a Catalyst for Emotional Intelligence.

Part II: Personal Experiences: The Case of Comensus.

6 Setting up a Service User and Carer Engagement Project: Comensus.

7 Climbing the Ladder of Involvement: A Manager’s Perspective.

8 Stories of Engagement.

9 Making Sense of Involvement in Comensus.

10 Shedding Masks: Transitions in Mental Health and Education, a Personal View.

Conclusions.

References.

Appendices.

Appendix 1: Research and Evaluation Planning Worksheet.

Appendix 2: Terms of Reference for Comensus Advisory Group.

Appendix 3: Year One Issues and Solutions.

Appendix 4: Terms of Reference for CIT.

Appendix 5: COMENSUS: Action Plan 2009.

Appendix 6: Year Three Sub-Groups of The Community Involvement Team.

Appendix 7: Year 3 Issues and Solutions.

Appendix 8: Protocol for the Development of Learning Resources Involving Service Users and/or Carers.

Appendix 9: Service User/Carer/Public Consent Form.

Index.

About the Author

Soo Downe is Professor of Midwifery Studies at University of Central Lancashire. She is a coordinator of the Comensus project and has led the research activity linked to Comensus. She is editor of Normal Childbirth, by Elsevier, and joint-editor of our forthcoming title - Essential Midwifery Practice: Intrapartum Care.

Mick McKeown is Principal Lecturer in mental health nursing research at the University of Central Lancashire, and co-founder of the Comensus project with Soo Downe. He is a trade union activist for Unison and contributes to union debates relating to service user involvement.

Lisa Malihi-Shoja is co-ordinator for the Comensus Project at the University of Central Lancashire. She is dedicated to service user and carer involvement and has developed and supported a n umber of projects across a wide range of settings, including community projects, acute care and forensic projects.