No / Lay involvement in public health programmes occurs through formalised lay health worker (LHW) and
other volunteer roles. Whether such participation should be supported, or indeed rewarded, by payment
is a critical question. With reference to policy in England, UK, this paper argues how framing citizen
involvement in health only as time freely given does not account for the complexities of practice, nor
intrinsic motivations. The paper reports results on payment drawn from a study of approaches to support
lay people in public health roles, conducted in England, 2007e9. The first phase of the study comprised a
scoping review of 224 publications, three public hearings and a register of projects. Findings revealed the
diversity of approaches to payment, but also the contested nature of the topic. The second phase
investigated programme support matters in five case studies of public health projects, which were
selected primarily to reflect role types. All five projects involved volunteers, with two utilising forms of
payment to support engagement. Interviews were conducted with a sample of project staff, LHWs (paid
and unpaid), external partners and service users. Drawing on both lay and professional perspectives, the
paper explores how payment relates to social context as well as various motivations for giving, receiving
or declining financial support. The findings show that personal costs are not always absorbed, and that
there is a potential conflict between financial support, whether sessional payment or expenses, and
welfare benefits. In identifying some of the advantages and disadvantages of payment, the paper
highlights the complexity of an issue often addressed only superficially. It concludes that, in order to
support citizen involvement, fairness and value should be considered alongside pragmatic matters of
programme management; however policy conflicts need to be resolved to ensure that employment and
welfare rights are maintained. / National Institute for Health Research Service Delivery and Organisation Programme (project number 08/1716/206).
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BRADFORD/oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/15523 |
| Date | 16 December 2013 |
| Creators | South, J., Purcell, M.E., Branney, Peter, Gamsu, M., White, J. |
| Source Sets | Bradford Scholars |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Article, No full-text in the repository |
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