This is an edited publication in a series of short reports on the representation of older people in ageing research published by The Centre for Policy on Ageing and The Centre for Ageing and Biographical Studies, The Open University. Current methodological innovation in research and ageing are examined in the series. This is number 11 in the series and focuses on co-production through working with existing older people's groups, and comprises reports of a seminar on key projects. Authors are from The Open University, the University of Bristol and Senior Voice Milton Keynes.
There are five stand-alone chapters, an introduction followed by four chapters by recognised experts that report on participatory projects of user involvement working with older people's groups in communities. The book and chapters meet their objectives of providing methodological and practical advice on user involvement with projects by involving established older people's groups as partners for co-production and the strengths, benefits and challenges of participatory working. The collaborative approach is the main focus of the type of user involvement and participatory working with older people.
Chapter Two, by Julia Johnson, Sheena Rolph and Randall Smith, reports on a project where older people were participants in co-production as volunteer researchers drawing on their local expertise and experience. Chapter Three, by Bill Bytheway, covers collaborating with local groups on a national study related to age discrimination. Chapters Four and Five both include European research projects: Chapter Four, by Josie Tetley, Stephanie Warren and Joan Walker, reports on involving older people organisations in lifelong learning initiatives, while Chapter Five, by Jacqueline H. Watts, describes working with a local older people forum.
The benefits and challenges of involving older people groups in participatory research projects as partners and undertaking co-production are recognised as complex undertakings, requiring clarity, flexibility and sensitivity by all members of the teams. Benefits include accessing large populations and samples of older people, while challenges include ethical conduct and governance, non-exploitative participation of all partners, agreement on ways of working, developing research aims and methods, co-authorship, confidentiality, research governance, project management and ethical practice. These challenges are counterbalanced by the rewards and benefits of involving older people and the skills, experience and expertise they bring or learn as part of the collaborations and co-production. By working with established organisations, experience and learning can be shared more widely and can also assist with reach, influence and impact, which are increasingly the focus of research outputs, and the social and economic benefits of funded research. The studies reported not only illuminate the above ranges of benefits and challenges but also reflect on the personal gains for individual members of research teams as well as organisations.
The chapters provide information on projects with a diverse range of approaches and rich useful examples of working with older people organisations. An additional strength of this book is that it provides a wealth of relevant information in one easily accessible and readable volume. It is also very reasonably priced. The book is aimed at practitioners, researchers, academics and postgraduate students who will not only benefit from these insights but may be encouraged and inspired to undertake collaborative approaches to user involvement and co-production with older people in all aspects of service delivery and development or research in the future.
