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USER INVOLVEMENT IN COMMUNITY CARE: ORIGINS, PURPOSES AND APPLICATIONS
Author(s) -
WISTOW GERALD,
BARNES MARIAN
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
public administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.313
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1467-9299
pISSN - 0033-3298
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9299.1993.tb00975.x
Subject(s) - consumerism , ideology , principal (computer security) , public relations , control (management) , action (physics) , preference , business , collective action , field (mathematics) , marketing , sociology , political science , economics , management , computer science , physics , mathematics , quantum mechanics , politics , pure mathematics , law , microeconomics , operating system
Whilst the drive towards public sector consumerism is intensifying, it is also evident that somewhat different ‘brands’ of consumerism are currently being marketed. This article develops a framework to assist in the disaggregation and understanding of the range of approaches to consumerism currently being pursued in the field of health and social care. Its principal elements concern the ideological origins of consumerism in this field; their purposes; and the forms through which consumer preference are expressed. This framework is applied to the Birmingham Community Care Special Action Project, a major developmental initiative which the authors have been studying. An important area for further investigation is the extent to which users and carers seek to exercise greater collective control over services as opposed to influencing the development of services more responsive to their individual needs.