Dear Jim,

You may like to look at the following
site.http://nrccph.latrobe.edu.au/index.html
The Australian Dept of Health and Aged Care has funded a national resource
centre for consumer participation in health. The centre has undertaken a
very thorough literature review of research looking at evidence for
consumer/community participation. I include an extract from their web site:

The National Resource Centre for Consumer Participation in Health (NRCCPH)
is an initiative of the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care. It
is being funded as part of the Acute Health Care - Microeconomic Reform
Program until the end of February, 2002 and is endorsed by the Australian
Health Ministers' Advisory Council.

The National Resource Centre has
two closely related functions


a Clearinghouse for information about methods and models of community and
consumer feedback and participation and associated concepts;
a Centre of Excellence in consumer participation where clients can seek
advice and assistance to develop, implement and evaluate feedback and
participation methods and models.

The NRCCPH also:

 critically analyses the various methods and models;
 actively promotes the benefits of community and consumer feedback and
participation;
 undertakes special projects;
 provides advice and information about various methods and models of
community and consumer feedback and participation;
 publishes resources from projects of the Centre.

 cheers
Debra


At 15:31 24/07/00 -0700, you wrote:
>Hello:
>
>We are presently engaged in a study of "citizen" (also called lay,
>public or community) participation in health reform. We are looking for
>tools and methods for assessing the IMPACT of citizen participation on
>decision-making and decisions made. More specifically, we are interested
>in answering the often-asked question "does citizen participation make a
>difference?
>
>I would greatly appreciate receiving any information you might have
>regarding the measurement of IMPACT of citizen participation.
>
>Best regards Jim
>
>Dr. C. James Frankish, BC Health Research Scholar
>Acting Director, Institute of Health Promotion Research
>Assistant Professor, Division of Preventive Medicine & Health Promotion
>Department of Health Care & Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine
>University of British Columbia
>Room 308, LPC Building, 2206 East Mall Vancouver BC V6T 1Z3
>Ph:604-822-9205  Fax:604-822-9210  E-mail: [log in to unmask]
>Web Site http://www.ihpr.ubc.ca
>
>
Debra O'Connor, Health Promotion Co-ordinator,
School of Public Health
La Trobe University
Bundoora 3083
Victoria, Australia
Ph:  (03) 9479 5730;  + 61 3 9479 5730
Fax: (03) 9479 1783;  + 61 3 9479 1783