Learning with Scottish partners: exploring models of co-production in development of welfare services across national contexts

The primary objective of this pre project is to build an international research collaboration between a multidisciplinary group consisting of users, providers and researchers of services for people with addictions and mental health problems in Fredrikstad,Norway, and the Scottish Programme What Works Scotland set up to evaluate Scottish approaches to welfare development. Addiction and mental health problems are complex, and effective service development requires broad participation from users, providers and researchers in order to build shared knowledge that allows solutions to service issues that are sustainable within specific frameworks of service organisation and governance. Models of co-production and resource-based approaches to service development address this issue through broad participation in the organisation and governance of services around users needs importantly, resources avaialable to address them. These approaches are widely used in Scottish welfare service development and supported at local and national levels. Østfold University College Faculty of Health and Social Studies are international collaborators in the What Works Scotland network. The Fredrikstad Group wishes to learn about these approaches from Scottish colleagues and the collaboration will develop international comparative research exploring how co-production approaches can be adapted to different national contexts of service organisation and governance. The primary object of the collaboration is to submit a proposal for a main project to the VAM Knowledge building programme September 2015, in the priority area production, quality and impact of welfare services and with cross relevance to the priority area Young peoples entry into and stability in working life. However, the collaboration will also identify further opportunites for comparative research through relevant programmes and their deadlines.