Participation in Health and Welfare Services : Professional Concepts and Lived Experience

Participation allows patients to become less dependent on healthcare providers, increasing their control over their own treatment and health. This book examines the concept of participation, as well as the different meanings it takes on in the context of health and welfare services. The contributions in this volume ask how services can enable and stimulate participation outside of those services, particularly focusing on participation as engagement in daily life and ‘everyday life’.

Today, healthy ageing and active, meaningful lives are core values and aims for international and national health policies. Health services are challenged to ensure that the recipients of their services are active participants in their own care and beyond. Participation allows patients to become less dependent on healthcare providers, increasing their control over their own treatment and health. Increasingly, the idea of ‘participation’ is shifting, from participation in services to participation in mainstream society.

This book examines the concept of participation, as well as the different meanings it takes on in the context of health and welfare services. It asks how services can enable and stimulate participation outside of those services. The contributions in this volume particularly focus on participation as engagement in daily life and ‘everyday life’ in order to develop the field of participation beyond the sphere of health and social care services. This book will appeal to researchers in the fields of health and social care, social services, occupational therapy and the sociology of health and illness. It will be of interest to practitioners of health and welfare services.