New book by Professor Jane Springett
12 March 2010
A groundbreaking new book co-authored by LJMU's Jane Springett, Professor of Health Promotion and Public Health, with Emeritus Professor Margaret Ledwith of Cumbria University, has been published by Policy Press.
Participatory Practice explores the core ideas of participatory practice and how theory and practice can be integrated to achieve transformative change.
The ideas in the book are founded on two premises: firstly, that transformative practice begins in the everyday stories that people tell about their lives and that practical theory generated from these narratives is the best way to inform both policy and practice. Secondly, that participatory practice is a tool for examining this knowledge in that it allows practitioners to examine the way they view the world and to situate their local practice within bigger social issues.
The book is expected to be of interest to both academics and community-based practitioners.
Professor Springett commented: “Writing the book was a transformative experience in itself because we had to cross the divide between our different professions. The idea to write it came from our joint concern for the appropriation of the language of participation by many politicians and agencies without a real examination of what true participation actually consists of."
The book will be formally launched in the Spring as part of the University's Institute for Health Research seminar programme.
