Evidence Library

Abstract:

Aim: To describe how users experience being interviewed by other users.    

Method: 17 service users who had been interviewed by service users as part of another research project, were interviewed about their experience.    
   
Findings: Some users found the experience of being interviewed by another user as a
positive experience particularly because they:

• were contributing to a review of care focused on the users' experience
• helped the interviewer develop their skills
• felt able to be more open and honest in the interview because of feelings of mutual understanding and trust
• felt inspired and motivated by the interviewer's story of recovery.   

However, some were also concerned about the experience because they felt:

• insecure and anxious about other users in general, because of previous experiences during in-patient care
• the user researchers were unprofessional or lacked the necessary social skills to be interviewers.

Conclusion: The researchers questioned whether the user researchers in this project had received sufficient training in interviewing. They also suggested that some of the
problems may be overcome by more careful matching of user researchers to interviewees.

External link: The following links will take you to information on this entry on an external website. INVOLVE is not responsible for the content or the reliability of the external websites. Link to PubMed abstract

Related entry: none currently available

Categories: health
Undertaking research
impact on service users involved
impact of public involvement
journal article

Date Entered: 2010/09/28

Date Edited: 2012/11/21