An Exploration of the Role of Lived Experience in Researching Creative Health Research
Hanna Morris, University College London (UCL) Creative Health MASc Student Dissertation - An Exploration of the Role of Lived Experience in Researching Creative Health Research. Executive Summary downloadable here >>
This dissertation was undertaken as part of the Mobilising Community Assets for Health Inequalities with Professor Helen Chatterjee and Kiz Manley. My personal lived experience was what drew me to this project in combination with the module ‘Lived Experience’ I took as part of my MASc in Creative Health. ‘Lived experience expert’ was not a term or concept I had come across before. The idea of including people with lived experience when creating policy and advising on how best to deliver health care and other vital services deeply resonated with me. Having first-hand experience of the importance of sensitively conducted and informed health care services and the detriment caused by a lack thereof, inspired me to further investigate the utilisation and experiences of lived experience experts in health and creative health research. I often wondered why those most effected by the treatments and services provided were not more vital in the processes and decision making concerning their illnesses. There was a clear disconnect between those being ‘treated’ and the systems providing the ‘treatment’. My studies provided me with a deeper understanding of lived experience and I knew I wanted to explore this further on my dissertation journey.
This study focuses on highlighting the voices of people with lived experience and understanding the facilitators and barriers inherent when lived experience experts are involved in health and creative health research.
Written by Hanna Morris
