Service user and carer involvement in pre-registration student selection.

An online questionnaire was undertaken to evaluate the involvement of service users and carers in the student selection process and to identify how the pre-registration process might be enhanced. Respondents comprised 34 students, all of whom had been selected for the pre-registration nursing education programme following this process, and 22 others, including service users and carers, practitioners, and lecturers, who had been involved in the selection process. A positive attitude to the involvement of service users and carers was evident in all groups, although there were some concerns and suggestions about how and when involvement of service users and carers should occur. The main findings were that service users could have an important role in contextualising mental health in people's lives.