'You're not going to give a monkey's chuff': exploring co-production in the design of services for women who have experienced sexual violence.
Perspect Public Health 2022;
142:231-236. [PMID:
35766316 PMCID:
PMC9284078 DOI:
10.1177/17579139221106838]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Aims:
Co-production is an emerging field in public health practice. We aim to
present evidence of what works well to support co-production and what can be
improved based upon learning from our evaluation of a co-production project
implemented by Rape Crisis England and Wales (RCEW). RCEW designed and
delivered a national co-production project called Weaving the Web, to inform
the development of an online support service for women who have experienced
sexual violence.
Methods:
We qualitatively evaluated the RCEW co-production approach. The specific
objectives of our evaluation were to assess the increased role and voice for
women and girls in co-producing services and provide better quality of
evidence for what works in empowering women and girls. The evaluation was
conducted in two phases: Phase 1 was the observation of co-production events
(n = 8), with findings from this used to develop an
interview schedule for Phase 2, where semi-structured interviews
(n = 26) were conducted with a range of stakeholders
(staff, partners and service users).
Results:
Staff supporting the co-production project were highly committed to the work,
investing time, money, and preparation, and having a good understanding of
co-production. Service users were less familiar with the approach and felt
alienated by some of the language used. Most service users described
participation as empowering and, in some instances, important in their own
recovery. They were keen to stay involved beyond the creation of the online
resource.
Conclusion:
The data from our evaluation illustrate that co-production on a national
level is challenging. While RCEW used values-based practice, and provided a
supportive culture to underpin the co-production of their online service,
transformative engagement and true participation were not achieved. Learning
from this project is drawn out here to outline transferrable lessons for
practitioners intending to use models of co-production in other public
health settings.
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