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Summary This article considers the place of service-user knowledge and expertise within an evidence-based practice perspective. It makes a strong argument that client involvement is a core principle of Sackett et al.'s foundational approach in evidence-based medicine. In so doing, it draws on research on service-users' perceptions and experiences of evidence-based practice. Findings For service users, evidence-based practice lacks relevance and trustworthiness unless it explicitly factors in the expertise of service users themselves. Evidence-based practice is seen to have merit as a tool for enhancing accountability, but service users see a role for themselves at individual and representative levels in the process of evidence-based practice. They place a high value on the expertise derived from lived experience, and recognise that fluctuations in capacity and changes in circumstances of many service users require a flexible approach to their participation in decision making. A pragmatic approach to the conceptualisation of evidence is recommended, which not only maintains scientific rigour inherent in evidence-based practice but also more strongly emphasises the process of analysing evidence appropriate to a particular individual's preferences and circumstances. Applications For human service practitioners, this study emphasises the need to develop professional skills in assessing the capacities, circumstances and preferences of clients and analysing and applying evidence for practice in ways that conform to a client-centred approach. It also indicates a need for researchers and practitioners to recognise and value service-user expertise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Models of service-user participation have derived from citizenship or consumerist agendas, neither of which has achieved the structural reforms important for the most marginalised social work clients. This article proposes Fraser's model of 'parity of participation' as an appropriately multifaceted frame for capturing the social justice aspirations of service-user participation. A qualitative case study compared the experiences and expectations of people who had used Australian mental health services with a sample who had used Australian homelessness services to examine their expectations of participation at individual and representative levels. The findings reinforce concerns from Fraser's research about the tendency for identity-based consumerist notions of participation to reify group identity. This leads to tokenistic service-user involvement strategies that have little impact on participation at a structural level. Fraser's parity of participation is shown to have untested potential to reshape service-user participation to meet the social justice aspirations of social work clients. Key Practitioner Message: ● Innovative, service-user driven strategies for collaboration will be those which challenge existing power structures; ● Service users want their contributions to decision making to generate identifiable change in the system of social services; ● The success of service-user participation strategies might be the extent to which political, economic and cultural opportunities are enhanced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]