Exploring deliberation in the real world: a case study of constructing a service user discourse in mental health

Williams, Stephen Joseph (2021). Exploring deliberation in the real world: a case study of constructing a service user discourse in mental health. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

This thesis explores the potential for instances of real world deliberation to strengthen the voices of mental health service users in policymaking. In doing so, it focus on the case of a non-idealised forum run by an NHS Clinical Commissioning Group in the English Midlands. The thesis investigates the impact of organisational approaches including, the selection of participants with lived experience and facilitation by public officials. Adopting a pragma-dialectical analysis it seeks to explore the extent to which these approaches affect the approximation of deliberative principles in real world discussions, both within the non-idealised form and policymaking processes. Although it finds elements of deliberative quality, these remain both partial and incomplete. Consideration is given to how the varying nature of communicative quality was influenced by the use of organisational methods that only partially operationalise deliberative principles. However, these same organisational methods strengthen service user voices by encouraging the development of discursive advocacy and democratic facilitation. Consequently, it seems that real world deliberation may involve context specific trade-offs between various deliberative principles.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):