WP 4 will leverage the expertise of anthropologists and health systems policy researchers to enhance citizen participation and trust-building, focusing on the Finnish health and social care sector.
Making democratic innovations accessible for everyone
Health and social care and health systems play a crucial role in shaping political engagement and in rebuilding trust in democratic institutions. Given that health and social care services are needed throughout citizens’ life course, this sector is ideal for piloting democratic innovations that are accessible for all societal groups, including those currently underrepresented. Work Package 4 poses two questions:
- What factors influence participation and trust in citizen engagement among currently underrepresented groups?
- How can deliberative practices involve members of under-represented or marginalized groups?
We will use qualitative methodologies with health and social care service users and staff to study factors such as the face validity of deliberative methods, affecting citizen engagement and trust in the health system. We work closely with civil society, such as NGOs, as well as wellbeing services counties. With our findings, we seek to engage decision-makers and citizens at the local, regional and national levels to discuss and deliberate findings and to propose bottom-up, locally informed solutions for expanding the range of democratic innovations. The research will complement WP3 and WP5 in widening the toolkit and reach of deliberative methods.
