Contextualising co-production and complex needs: Understanding the engagement of service users with severe and multiple disadvantages

• Published in: Public policy and administration 2024-04, Vol.39 (2), p.259-277
• Main Author: Broadhurst, Kate
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Marginality; Production; Stigma
• ISSN: 0952-0767; 1749-4192
• DOI: 10.1177/09520767221122277

Much has been written about co-production in mainstream services but less is known about its applicability to service users with severe and multiple disadvantages (SMD). Given the sometimes-precarious relationship between providers and users with SMD, the paper argues that co-production should not be approached in the same way as conventional user engagement because of the degree of marginalisation, stigma and exclusion users with SMD face. Through a thematic analysis of evidence systematically collated via a rapid evidence assessment, the author proposes a co-production framework comprising a series of organisational principles to create an enabling environment for co-production with vulnerable service users. The application of the model is encouraged across a range of sectors and settings so that all service users can become empowered participants in the design and delivery of services that affect their lives.