Conceptualizing Lay Participation in Professional Health Care Organizations

Benjamin Marent is a postdoctoral researcher at the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute Health Promotion Research in Vienna. He studied in Vienna and London and earned his PhD (in 2012) in sociology at the University of Vienna with an analysis of participatory health promotion. His main areas of research comprise user and community participation, health promotion, organization theory, and communication theory. His most recent publication is Marent, B., Forster, R., & Nowak, P. (2012). Theorizing participation in health promotion: A literature review. Social Theory Health, 10, 188-207.

Rudolf Forster is professor of sociology at the Institute of Sociology, University of Vienna, and key researcher in the area of user and community participation at the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute Health Promotion Research in Vienna. He earned his PhD in psychology at the University of Vienna. His main areas of publication and research comprise participation and health promotion in organizational settings, patient organizations’ engagement in health care, and policy. His recent publications comprise the following: (a) Forster, R., Braunegger-Kallinger, G., & Krajic, K. (2011). Austrian Health Consumer Groups—Voices Gaining Strength? In H. Löfgren, E. De Leeuw, & M. Leahy (Eds.), Democratizing Health: Consumer Groups in the Policy Process (pp. 143-160), Cheltenham, UK, Northampton, MA, USA: Edward Elgar Publishing; and (b) Forster, R., & Gabe, J., (2008). Voice or choice? Patient and public involvement in the national health service in England under new Labour, International Journal of Health Services, 38, 333-356.

Peter Nowak was senior researcher and assistant director of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute Health Promotion Research in Vienna, and is now Head of Unit for Science, Research, and Evaluation, GesundheitÖsterreich GmbH. He is also a lecturer at the Institute for Sociology, University of Vienna, and the Medical University of Graz. He earned his PhD in linguistics at the University of Vienna with a meta-study on the systematics of doctors’ communicative actions. His main areas of publication and research comprise doctor–patient communication, health promotion in hospitals, integrated care, quality improvement in hospitals, patient-centered care and patient participation, and empowerment. His most recent publications comprise the following: (a) Mager, U., & Nowak, P. (2012). Effects of student participation in decision making at school. A systematic review and synthesis of empirical research. Educational Research Review, 7, 38-61; and (b) Nowak, P. (2011) Synthesis of qualitative linguistic research—A pilot review integrating and generalizing findings on doctor–patient interaction. Patient Education & Counseling, 82, 429-441.