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Original Articles

Towards a Conceptual Framework of Service User Involvement in Social Work Education: Empowerment and Educational Perspectives

Pages 11-22 | Accepted 27 Sep 2017, Published online: 08 Mar 2019
 

ABSTRACT

A topic that has recently gained widespread attention in social work education is service user involvement (SUI), a term denoting the call to include users of social work services in teaching social work students. Despite the widespread use of the term SUI, this label includes a wide variety of approaches with different aims and scopes. A conceptual framework that distinguishes empowerment from educational perspectives in current SUI approaches is proposed, and a number of elements that should be discussed in each of these perspectives are introduced: theoretical background, role and tasks of the institution, areas of implementation and role of service users, and effects of SUI and their assessment. Implications for further SUI projects and research approaches are discussed.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Marion Laging

Marion Laging is Professor for Social Work and Vice Dean at Esslingen University of Applied Sciences. Thomas Heidenreich is Professor for Social Work and Vice Dean at Esslingen University of Applied Sciences.

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