Administration or transformation? An exploration of personalisation reforms, service user participation and diversity strategies in adult social care

This PhD by Public Works demonstrates how three key topic areas with convergent themes emerge from a systematic analysis of 21 submitted public works. These are: The personalisation policy agenda in adult social care and mental health; Service user participation; and LGB (T) service user experience. The final synthesis brings together these three topics and core themes as a coherent critique of how the personalisation policy has been constructed and implemented. It examines the way in which this reflects some of the broader political, operational and systemic barriers to service user participation, the use of experiential knowledge and evidence and the recognition of the full diversity and complexity of people who use mental health and social care services (with particular reference to LGB (T) service user experience). The resultant exploration and argument is informed by my service user perspective and associated methodologies.This context statement shows how the knowledge for the PhD by Public Works was produced, how it makes a significant contribution to knowledge in the field and to the broader sphere of social care and mental health research methodology and service user epistemology.