Arc Scotland work to advance knowledge, practice and policy in health and social care for the benefit of people with learning disabilities or other support needs such as autism, mental health problems, sensory and physical disabilities.
Jackie Taylor, from ARC Scotland, applied her learning from ESS workshops to involve people with learning disabilities in setting outcomes for service commissioning.
Jackie was asked by the council to support service users in getting directly involved in the process of assessing applications from disability-service providers.
This was the first time that the service users had been involved in such a way.
Jackie started by establishing service user groups in different locations. She then helped them identify outcomes that were important to them for the services they receive.
Using her learning from ESS, Jackie explained what an outcome is. Learning about outcomes allowed the group to understand the difference between receiving a service, and having a service that makes a difference.
Jackie used large printouts of pictures which represented various outcomes that may be important to the group. Using facial expression symbols, the group prioritised the pictures.
Jackie then used parts of a semi-structured interview technique to support the discussion. This allowed the group to talk about the ways in which they could see that services had, or had not, helped them.
Since the majority of the service users couldn’t read, Jackie and the group then had to find a way of assessing applications from the service providers.
Jackie asked the group to describe what the service would look like if the providers were doing a good job. From these answers, she highlighted areas in the documents where the providers addressed these points.
Based on this, the group were then able to score the applications. The group used a ‘hotel rating’ star system to give their scores. Jackie then collated the scores for each provider.
This evaluation story demonstrates that it is possible to directly engage service users in setting and measuring outcomes.
Do you need help with setting and measuring outcomes?
Our principles for good evaluation can help you to judge if you are happy with your evaluation. They are used within this story to highlight the principle that is being demonstrated:
– Good evaluation should involve the people you support
See below for the case-study this story is based on, as well as relevant resources:
Case Study: ARC Scotland
This case study shows how ARC Scotland involved service users in setting outcomes for service.
ESS Evaluation Method: Interview
One to one discussions to investigate people’s perceptions, opinions, beliefs, and attitudes.
ESS Evaluation Method: Choosing pictures
This method can be used with a group or as a one to one activity. People are invited to pick a card in response to a specific question or idea.
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Getting creative with evaluation methods
By doing things like taking photographs, collecting feedback or making observations you are collecting evidence. Creative thinking can help you decide how to capture this evidence, and how to use it for evaluation. Click here to find out how!