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Inclusion as Assimilation, Integration, or Co-optation? A Post-Structural Analysis of Inclusion as Produced Through
Aimee Sinclair1, Sue Gillieatt1, Christina Fernandes1
1School of Allied Health, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia.
Qualitative Health Research
|March 20, 2023
Summary
Peer support in mental health settings is often framed as beneficial, but research shows it can lead to worker exhaustion and exclusion. Current research frames inclusion as assimilation or integration, which can problematize peer support workers.
Area of Science:
- Mental Health Research
- Sociology of Health
- Inclusion Studies
Background:
- Peer support in mental health has grown significantly, driven by policy emphasizing service user inclusion.
- Despite policy, peer support workers report exhaustion, slow systemic change, and workplace exclusion.
- These experiences highlight varied understandings of inclusion among stakeholders.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze how mental health research constructs 'inclusion' for peer support.
- To critically evaluate the dominant research framings of inclusion.
- To explore more emancipatory approaches to inclusion in mental health settings.
Main Methods:
- Utilized Bacchi's 'what's the problem represented to be?' framework.
- Analyzed mental health research discourse on peer support inclusion.
- Applied critical inclusion, mental health, and survivor scholarship.
Main Results:
- Current research predominantly frames inclusion as 'assimilation' and 'integration'.
- These framings problematize both peer support workers and service users.
- Inclusion is often produced in ways that do not fully support peer support roles.
Conclusions:
- Dominant research framings of inclusion can be detrimental to peer support.
- Alternative framings, such as 'co-optation,' offer potential for more liberatory inclusion.
- Researchers must engage in reflexivity to foster genuinely emancipatory inclusion practices.
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