The Comensus Project

2006 Conference

The Comensus Project has been established in the Faculty of Health at the University of Central Lancashire. The aims are to provide for systematic participation of health and social care service users and carers in all aspects of the Faculty’s work: practitioner education and training; research; and strategic planning. A key element of the project is the development and support of a group of service users and carers. They are networked into the wider community provide a forum for information exchange, consultation, negotiation and influence within the university, such that service user and carer’s views and perspectives are more thoroughly engaged with across the variety of activity in the Faculty. This forum has been named by the participants as the ‘Community Involvement Team’.

The initiative has been conceived as a modified participatory emancipatory action research project, using a spiral process of iterative cycles of planning-action -observation-reflection-planning. This presentation will present findings to date.

Taken as a whole, the project aims to deliver a number of reciprocal benefits between the university and the local community. The anticipated benefits for the university include a range of enhancements to course provision and research quality, and a shift away from previously piecemeal involvement of service users towards a more systematic and co-ordinated enterprise. The forms of user involvement which are developed should have the added value of being credible, organic and independent. The process of community engagement and involvement should ensure associated beneficial impact upon the university’s public image and standing within the local community. Potential community benefits involve employment opportunities, opening up access to university resources and, importantly, the opportunity to make a difference.

The aim of this paper is to inform participants of our project, its development and to report on the process of action research. We hope that people will take away the message that service user and carer led projects have enormous value, are worthwhile and should be encouraged.