22 april 2002health services research unit feedback from parents : using an action research approach...
TRANSCRIPT
22 April 2002 Health Services Research Unit
Feedback From Parents :Using an Action Research Approach to Evaluate a Local Sure Start Programme
Tameron Chappell
Jessica Schafer
Talk Outline
• Rose Hill – Littlemore Sure Start
evaluation
• What is Action Research?
• Parent feedback as an example
Rose Hill - Littlemore Sure Start
• Trailblazer
• About 640 children (300+ families)
• About 150 new births per year
• Lead partner was a charity
• Now Board of Trustees
Rose Hill - Littlemore Sure Start Evaluation
• Health Services Research Unit, University of Oxford
• Independent evaluation
• 6% of Sure Start’s budget = £36,000/yr
• Began in August 2000, with 2 researchers
Objectives of the Evaluation
1) ‘What makes a difference’ to local parents, and feed this back to Sure Start
2) Look at how the programme is working internally, and improve internal feedback channels
Accountability
• Director of Health Services Research Unit
• Director of Sure Start
• Research Advisory Group– meets quarterly– mixed membership
•Has ethical clearance
Action Research
Sure Start’s everyday practice
Reflection
bySure Start workers /
Research team
Action
(instigate change)
Strategic planning
(action plan / theme for further investigation)
Research and analysis
(Interviews etc. )
Methods
• InterviewsStaff : 33 conductedParents : 18 conducted (target of 20)
• Parent diaries: Written or audio6 given out - 2 returned
• Questionnaires to Board members17 sent out - 6 returned
• Participant observation: meetings, events
Parent interviews
Target : 20 interviews– 10 Rose Hill, 10 Littlemore– Of these, 5 using services, 5 not– At least 1 Asian parent in each section
Recruitment:– No access to database, no ‘cold-calling’– Playgroups, health visitors, Asian support
workers, child literacy groups, ‘snowball’ (friends of friends)
User vs. non-user distinction
• Am I a service user?
• Some services existed before Sure Start
• Sure Start ‘stamp’
Finding ‘true’ non-users
• Use the database without names
• Postal invitation
• Parents’ initiative
Interview discussion topics
Environment and infrastructure Social trust Support with children Use of services Constructive criticism and positive feedback on services
Feedback channels Participation in decision-making structures Inter-agency co-ordination Hopes for the future
What parents like about Sure Start (1)
– New skills (cooking, sewing, computing)
– Voluntary work
– Parenting skills
– Computer classes
– Support for post-natal depression
For me personally, it has just been a life saver because I think I would have got even more and more depressed. I got to the point where I didn’t want [my child] at all. I wanted to like hurt myself and it is sort of coming here that really did... [The Sure Start health visitor] sorted it out because she arranged for me to go and see OXPIP [Oxford Parent Infant Programme], she phoned up and did all that for me which was just like “wow, marvellous” that somebody that I don’t really know would do something so nice for me and that is how I felt just so “wow”.
What parents like (2)
– Day-trips (e.g. Brighton, Child Beale)
– Non-discriminatory services
– Funding for child care
– Home Start (weekly volunteer support in the home)
What parents like (3)
– Improved communication between agencies
– Early literacy and parent/child interaction
I think the biggest message that PEEP gives is that what you’re doing as a parent anyway was the right thing. You know, and I could actually go along there and all the kind of worries that I’d ever had in the past about how I’d done things the first time round, that I could actually sit back and say “Well, you were doing it right.” But there was never anybody to say that at the time […] I was suddenly confident as a mother.
Things parents would like to see
Activities for older children/youth Parks Clean and safe environment for play Leisure centre Drop-in crèche Physical activities for children
Career advice and guidance More or other courses and training Better housing Road safety measures Affordable child care
Sure Start’s responses to unmet needs
• Lead role in youth project
• Support for parent volunteers to hold youth events
• Lobby on housing issue
• ‘Planning for Real’ initiative
• Lobby on public transport
Sure Start’s responses to unmet needs (2)
• Work on environmental issues
• Police drop-in at family centre
• Regular monthly trips
• Tumble Tots
• Drop-in creche
Obstacles to using Sure Start services
• Stigma
• Lack of information
• Social barriers
• Cultural barriers
• Transportation
Sure Start’s responses to obstacles identified
Targeted service extended to allow some use by all families, and publicity revised to make this more clear
Stigma of Family Centre – New physical infrastructure – New code of conduct & confidentiality
policies implemented
Information strategy in planning stages
Action research approach
• Immediate feedback after interviews
• Feedback to Research Advisory Group
• Away Days topic
• Action plan and sub-group