This page gives you help with some of the practicalities of arranging training as well as links to other resources.
Contents
Undertaking a training needs analysis
Prior to finalising a training event it is important to be very clear about what the training need is. It is very easy to make assumptions about this, but a very ineffective training event can result if these assumptions are incorrect.
One way to avoid this is to undertake a training needs analysis with those who might want to have training. This might be carried out within an organisation or group that is considering training for its members, networks or staff, or it could be carried out by the trainer or training organisation prior to setting up a training event.
A training needs analysis could be done as a questionaire survey. The questions to be used need to be thought through carefully if they are to ellicit the information that is really important to the people who are being considered for training. They may have strong ideas about what they want, but find that a limited set of questions is too restricting for an open and honest response, or for any response at all. Often sensitivity is required, and reassurance about confidentiality may be important. Consideration also needs to be given to the ways in which people normally communicate. For example, they may be an ethnic minority group, people with communication disabilities, or individuals such as an extremely pressured senior health professional.
Perhaps less easy, but in some cases, more effective, is to talk to people on their own ground, or perhaps through a regular meeting, and identify some general training needs and aspirations through dialogue. This may be sufficient in itself, or it may help you to approach a formal and systematic survey, especially where there is a wider audiance to consider.
Advice on agreeing training provision
INVOLVE do not quality 'kitemark' training. Although the training providers on our database have met our entry criteria, have been asked to abide by a code of conduct, and give examples of recent work, it is your responsibility to make sure the training you are considering is going to be of a quality you want, and that it will provide the content you are looking for. All the information on individual database entries is provided by the trainers themselves and is not the responsibility of INVOLVE. We therefore recommend you take the following steps:
Once you have a selection of training providers from the database who appear to meet your requirements, the next stage is to read through their details carefully to make sure they provide training relevant to you, and seem to have the appropriate background, capacity, skills and experience to deliver what you want, when you want it.
Having done this you will need to contact them to talk through your requirements. We suggest that you might want to see the list of guidelines developed by the TRUE project to check that the provider is able to do all that you need. We recommend that you also ask for references and take these up before making any contractual agreements.
Once you have established that you wish to use a particular training provider it will be important to negotiate with them:
- who will be doing the training
- what the training will cover
- when the training is to take place
- where the training is to take place
- how the training will be delivered (style and form)
- and what the cost of the training is.
Make sure you or the training provider puts this in writing. Then check with all parties that what is written is correct.
Developing a training plan
It is important to develop a training plan that everyone can agree to, and which makes clear to prospective participants what they can expect.
1. Most important is to set some basic aims and objectives.
- Aims describe the overall direction the training intends to take in its style, subject matter, and with its participants. For example: 'The training will explore...........'
- Objectivesdescribe what the training intends to achieve. These are the 'milestones'. For example: 'By the end of the training participants will have knowledge of/been introduced to/have acheived..............'
2. Next in the plan should be something about how these objectives are to be achieved. What styles and methods will be used?
3. This might be followed by a programme of the day/course describing what will happen.
Funding for training
We recommend that researchers, and research organisations budget for training for public involvement as part of their overall research funding bids and project proposals. Increasingly research commissioners are expecting researchers to build in public involvement as part of their research proposals, and expect to see this reflected in project budgets. Training and support for public involvement is a legitimate cost.
However, there are organisations that sometimes fund stand alone training :
- The National Lotteries Charities Board will sometimes fund stand alone training if it can be shown to have long term benefits to participants who may not otherwise have the opportunity. http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/programmes/
- The European Social Fund often fund training where this can be shown to help lead to employment for people who may otherwise be marginalised. http://www.esf.gov.uk/
Some local adult education programmes, colleges and universities run community programmes which can relate to public involvement in health and social care services. It is worth finding out who the programme leads are and talking to them.
Suggested further reading:
Full report: Training for service user involvement in health and social care research - a study of training provision and participants' experiences.
Lockey R, Sitzia J, Gillingham T, Millyard J, Miller C, Ahmed S, Beales A, Bennett C, Parfoot S, Sigrist G and Sigrist J. (2004). Worthing and Southlands Hospitals NHS Trust
No. of pages: 162. Available from this website. Filesize: 575kb.
Training for Public Involvment in Research: Seminar Report: 22nd April 2004
Steel R. (2004) INVOLVE. No. of pages: 42. Available from this website. Filesize: 697kb.
Effectiveness and Quality in User Involvement Projects (EQUIP): Final report
Linsey Hovard, Sally Crowe, Nain Hussein (2004) Available from this website.
INVOLVE DVD
We have produced a short film, which outlines why and how people are getting actively involved in research and highlights some of the differences that public involvement is making.
The film was originally developed for the NHS Alliance Conference 2008 and features:
Nick Partridge
Nick is Chief Executive of the Terrence Higgins Trust and Chair of INVOLVE
Angela Barnard.
Angela is a service user and carer, and a member of the NIHR board and INVOLVE.
Jenny Walton and David Wright.
David Wright is a researcher who worked with patients and service users on the Macmillan Listening study.
Jenny is a cancer patient who worked with David on the study.
Michael Turner
Michael is a disabled writer and user researcher
Ade Adebajo
Ade is a Consultant Physician in Rheumatology, at Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and a member of INVOLVE.
DVDs of the film are available from the Coordinating Centre on 02380 651088 or by emailing admin@invo.org.uk
Informative external web links
http://www.support4learning.org.uk |
http://www.campaign-for-learning.org.uk
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