Pascal, JanSagan, Olivia2018-06-292018-06-292016-08-11Pascal, J. & Sagan, O. (2018) Cocreation or Collusion: The Dark Side of Consumer Narrative in Qualitative Health Research. Illness, Crisis & Loss, 26(4), pp. 251-269.1054-13731552-6968https://doi.org/10.1177/1054137316662576https://eresearch.qmu.ac.uk/handle/20.500.12289/4701Health, mental health and social care policy are dominated by the imperative of employing person-centred approaches. Such involvement of the 'consumer' is generally claimed to provide a counter-narrative to the psychiatric and medical paradigm of illness. Taking a critical and reflexive standpoint, we find ourselves asking: Is there a dark side to employing person-centred approaches and potential loss and risk to participants themselves? To explore these questions further we undertook a condensed critique of the current mental health, health and social care policy arena. We then move to methodological concerns about ways in which person-centred research, including our own, can inadvertently reproduce the neoliberalist agenda. To conclude, we offer our own lived experiences as a cautionary tale. We also posit that a post-Foucauldian governmentality framework can assist researchers to avoid contributing to the very problems we wish to resolve.251-269Loss & BereavementCancer & IllnessQualitative Data & Research MethodsPhenomenology & TheoryNarrativeMental HealthCocreation or Collusion: The Dark Side of Consumer Narrative in Qualitative Health Researcharticlehttps://doi.org/10.1177/1054137316662576