Page 38 - WCEN Dr Rochelle Burgess evaluation report\ Baloon

Shifting Individuals

In order to assess how WCEN activities had shifted individual health outcomes we distributed an
survey to community members (n = 23). The survey explored community member’s attitudes and
experiences of co-produced services where applicable across sites. The survey adapted the following
validated health and wellbeing measures:
o Quality indicators for primary care mental health services
o New Economic Foundation (short form well-being survey)

o Patient Activation Measure (PAM)

o MOS Social Support Survey
Measuring individual health outcomes was problematic in for several reasons- firstly, the lack of base
line data; secondly, the poor response rate and thirdly, the difficulty in identifying suitable respondents.
However, overall the process itself was useful in determining the gaps that WCEN need to address
in order to sustain the work they are doing.
As these issues emerged (primarily, from data collection with the community groups in phase 1 of the
research process) we decided to alter the survey to capture two aspects; attitudes towards coproduced
initiatives delivered at community sites and secondly, if they had participated in any existing
coproduced initiatives, how satisfied they were with the experience. Based on the survey data that
we were able to use, descriptive data is presented on these two areas later in this chapter. Before
moving onto that, the three problems with the collection of individual health data are addressed.

Lack of base-Line Data
It became evident that there was not any base-line data collected from the coproduced initiatives that
were being delivered to date and therefore this made a comparison of pre and post coproduced
interventions impossible. Collection of base-line data will be fundamental in any new initiatives in the
next phase of the networks activities. A systematic approach to data collection before starting to
intervene in improving health of individuals will enable WCEN to demonstrate the impact of the
approach.
It was identified that data from the local Mental Health Trust is collected for the IAPT services, however
due to the nature of the data it was not possible to use this to evidence any individual health outcomes
shifts as an indicator of WCEN activities. However, this did highlight that it will be imperative that the
measures used to assess individual health outcomes in the future are considered in-line with the data
being collected by other relevant agencies. The benefits of this will be two-fold; there is greater
possibility of carrying out comparative data analysis with geographical areas that are not delivering
coproduced services and secondly, individuals will not be over-burdened with survey questions from
a number of agencies as this could potentially break down trust and relations between service
providers and individuals.

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