Participation, discourse and power: a case study in service user involvement

The author demonstrates the value of an approach to user involvement in which discourse itself is used as a primary data source, ensuring that the forum’s discourse remains within established normative boundaries and serving to reinforce existing institutionally defined power relations.

Abstract

Drawing on the findings from a case study of a forum in which users of mental health services are brought into dialogue with officials, the author demonstrates the value of an approach to user involvement in which discourse itself is used as a primary data source. Using her observations of the forum’s meetings, as well as interviews with forum members, the author shows how power is exercised discursively in various apparently trivial ways, ensuring that the forum’s discourse remains within established normative boundaries and serving, ultimately, to reinforce existing institutionally defined power relations.