Co-producing Psychiatric Education with Service User Educators: a Collective Autobiographical Case Study of the Meaning, Ethics, and Importance of Payment.
OBJECTIVE
Co-production involves service providers and service users collaborating to design and deliver services together and is gaining attention as a means to improve provision of care. Aiming to extend this model to an educational context, the authors assembled a diverse group to develop co-produced education for psychiatry residents and medical students at the University of Toronto over several years. The authors describe the dynamics involved in co-producing psychiatric education as experienced in their work.


METHODS
A collaborative autobiographical case study approach provides a snapshot of the collective experiences of working to write a manuscript about paying service users for their contributions to co-produced education. Data were collected from two in-person meetings, personal communications, emails, and online comments to capture the fullest possible range of perspectives from the group about payment.


RESULTS
The juxtaposition of the vision for an inclusive process against the budgetary constraints that the authors faced led them to reflect deeply on the many meanings of paying service user educators for their contributions to academic initiatives. These reflections revealed that payment had implications at personal, organizational, and social levels.


CONCLUSION
Paying mental health service user educators for their contributions is an ethical imperative for the authors. However, unless payment is accompanied by other forms of demonstrating respect, it aligns with organizational structures and practices, and it is connected to a larger goal of achieving social justice, the role of service users as legitimate knowers and educators and ultimately their impact on learners will be limited.
['Soklaridis|Sophie|S|http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5119-8473', 'de Bie|Alise|A|', 'Cooper|Rachel Beth|RB|', 'McCullough|Kim|K|', 'McGovern|Brenda|B|', 'Beder|Michaela|M|', 'Bellissimo|Gail|G|', 'Gordon|Tucker|T|', 'Berkhout|Suze|S|', 'Fefergrad|Mark|M|', 'Johnson|Andrew|A|', 'Kalocsai|Csilla|C|', 'Kidd|Sean|S|', 'McNaughton|Nancy|N|', 'Ringsted|Charlotte|C|', 'Wiljer|David|D|', 'Agrawal|Sacha|S|']
D002170:Canada D003299:Cooperative Behavior D006801:Humans D007396:Internship and Residency D008605:Mental Health Services D019982:Organizational Case Studies D011570:Psychiatry D036301:Qualitative Research D012052:Reimbursement, Incentive D013337:Students, Medical
Service user educator Payment Co-production Mental health education Qualitative research