‘Should we even have questions?’ From survey to exhibition – co-producing research about ‘mental health’ with carers and adults with learning disabilities

Runswick-Cole, Katherine, Smith, Martina, Ryan, Sara ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7406-1610 and Hatton, Chris ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8781-8486 (2024) ‘Should we even have questions?’ From survey to exhibition – co-producing research about ‘mental health’ with carers and adults with learning disabilities. International Journal of Care and Caring. pp. 1-16. ISSN 2397-8821

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Abstract

Carers’ mental health is often the focus of policy and research in Global North contexts. Research exploring carers’ views often uses survey methods to collect information about their experiences and views of services and support. However, the experiences of adult carers of adults with learning disabilities have often been marginalised within these domains. Here, we report on how, working together with family carers, we disrupted survey methods and generated new insights into what matters to family carers when sharing their experiences of care, mental health, services and support, as well as the crucial role of co-production in this research.