Third ISA Forum of Sociology (July 10-14, 2016)

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Towards a Comparative Perspective on Citizens’ and Civil Society Organizations’ Participation in Healthcare

RC15 Sociology of Health (host committee)

Language: English

Across the world, citizens’ and civil society organizations’ participation in healthcare decision-making and research is increasingly implemented as method of good governance. Participation is a complex phenomenon that is practiced in different forms leading to diverse experiences and outcomes. 
Against this background, we invite theoretical contributions that improve our understanding of this phenomenon as well as empirical studies that reveal the challenges and consequences of participatory practices. Contributions may address the following questions: 

• How do the increasing calls for participation relate to societal changes and what are their underlying rationalities? 
• How can different forms of participatory processes be analysed by using concepts of power and/or knowledge production? 
• How do different actors (e.g. citizens, caregivers, healthcare professionals) experience diverse forms of participation and which tensions or opportunities do arise from their engagement? 
• What kinds of requirements (e.g. resources and competences) are considered to be necessary for specific participatory practices and what is their impact on health services and research? 
• What are the wider societal consequences of the reconfiguration of relations between professionals and citizens e.g. in terms of active citizenship and opportunities to counteract the overwhelming medicalization of life?

By encouraging a systematic discussion of different participatory practices and their outcomes the session intends to disclose a step towards a comparative perspective that may offer new ways to conceptualize, investigate and generate evidence on citizens’ and civil society organizations’ participation in healthcare decision-making and research.

Posters: