Service user and carer involvement in social work education: lessons from an innovative experience at University of Piemonte Orientale, Asti, Italy

Background and purpose This paper presents a case study of an Italian educational innovation in a social work degree course. Following the experience of the Social Work Department of University of Hertfordshire (UK) within an Erasmus Teaching Exchange Programme, the Social Work degree course of the University of Piemonte Orientale, Alessandria and Asti, Italy, has introduced systematic involvement of service users and careers in the training of a new undergraduate degree as from September 2013. The group “Diversa-Mente Esperti” (Otherwise Experts) consists of fifteen service users and carers with different life stories in the fields of addiction, domestic violence, mental health, migration, physical disability and social reintegration. Method Two senior lectures of Social Work, a university tutor, and a young social worker participate too in supporting capacity. The group meets once a month for two hours. Moreover, some of the group members participated as trainers in three workshops, one for each year of the course, within the vocational training activities of the Degree. The conceptual and value base, the structure, staffing, and main activities will be outlined; as well as the main achievements and barriers. Evaluation Methods Mindful of the danger of slipping into tokenistic involvement, the project has included a research evaluation which explored the views of all project stakeholders, thus establishing the project as an evidence-based educational innovation. The evaluation included an anonymously questionnaire with 10 closed and open questions for students, users and teachers participants, in order to highlight the factors that may have helped or hindered the learning process. We then asked all to express their opinion on the statements made by giving a value from 1 to 5 (1: full disagreement- 5: full agreement). 100 questionnaires were administered (49 first year, 33 second year and 18 for the third year). Results. Today we collected more than 400 completed questionnaires. More than 70% of the answers to each question is more than positive. Conclusions and implications The initial response of all stakeholders to introducing this type of involvement has been positive. The findings highlight the value of service users’ involvement in the qualifying social work degree, of the evaluation, and the steps needed for the cultural change required for such involvement to become more comprehensive and embedded in the degree course. There are some critical points to face up, i.e.: Identify and use areas in the SW curriculum; SUI need to avoid friction within the institution; get in touch with other SUI projects across Europe.