Training

Introduction to training

Consumer participation in health is about people who use health services having a say about their own health and about how health services are provided to them and others. Consumers have expertise drawn from their lived experiences of illness and health services. Organisations with effective consumer participation value this expertise and tap into this experience to learn what they do well and what could be improved.

Training in consumer participation is not a prescriptive process where one 'teaches' another how to do something. In the context of consumer participation, good practice training is a complex and dynamic two way process involving the building of trust, the sharing of experience, capacity to explore personal and political issues in a safe environment, the development of partnership and an openness to change through understanding of issues central to all participants. For consumers, the sharing of their experiences of the health care system is central to the skills transfer process. For health service providers, the capacity to convey their experiences of working in complex and sometimes inflexible health systems will be central to the development of shared understanding.

Key characteristics of successful education and training programs were identified in 2000 through a research project of the Consumer Focus Collaboration. Characteristics included the bringing of consumers and providers together; the training program contains a mix of information provision and practical exercises; is based on experience and uses skilled presenters.
(Education and Training for Consumer Participation in health care: final report of project, Global Learning Services, 2000, p.15)

Principles for consumer participation in education and training were identified by the same research project as including participation as a learning experience; a move away from a model where power rested with the health service provider; diverse learning needs are met through diverse training materials; economic, physical and social barriers to learning are addressed in practical ways; and mainstream learning about consumer participation. The research project found that there has been little, if any, formal education or training about the importance of consumer participation in the planning, delivery, monitoring and evaluation of health care services. Nor were health service providers taught any skills about how to optimise the effectiveness of consumer participation. (p.45)

Central to any training program should be processes that bring in the lived experience of consumers and carers, and that encourages reflective practice in the workplace. Good practice education and training should result in complementary skills development for health service providers, administrators, consumers, carers and ultimately a meeting in the middle for genuine partnership.