22 April 2002 Health Services Research Unit

Feedback From Parents :Using an Action Research Approach to Evaluate a Local Sure Start Programme

Tameron Chappell

tameron.chappell@dphpc.ox.ac.uk

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