Service user research in social work and disability studies in the United Kingdom

Abstract

In recent years, there has been growing interest in the involvement of service users in research as well as in research studies that are led by service users. Although this interest in service users’ roles in research has been evident in both social work and disability studies, the two research disciplines have remained remarkably separate in the United Kingdom. This paper examines the epistemological underpinnings of social work research and disability studies research and explores the tensions, possibilities and power dynamics of collaboration between the two research disciplines in the United Kingdom. It concludes by outlining possibilities for social model approaches to social work research.

Keywords:

• social work research
• service user involvement
• user-controlled research
• disability studies
• collaboration

Notes

1. See www.shapingourlives.org.uk.

2. See http://www.invo.org.uk.

3. We would also wish to avoid ‘individual blaming’ understandings of carers, social work practitioners and others, but our focus in this paper is on service users.