NORTHUMBERLAND FISHNets ACTION RESEARCH EVALUATION

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NORTHUMBERLAND FISHNetsACTION RESEARCH
EVALUATION

• Dr Pam Dawson
• Glenda Cook

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NORTHUMBERLAND FISHNets

• One of 19 first wave Partnerships for Older
  People Projects (POPPs), which aim to develop
  low level basic services to keep older people at
  home for longer and prevent or delay hospital
  admission and the need for residential/nursing
  home care.
• Northumberland Care Trust plus partners
  successfully bid for more than 1m over 2½ years
  from the Department of Health.
• Part of a nationwide 60m programme.

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FISHNets aims to prevent falls and reduce bed
days by helping older people stay

• Fit
• Involved
• Safe
• Healthy
• through investment in sustainable community
  Networks

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FISHNets TASK GROUPS

• Older peoples partnership board.
• Communication.
• Education and training.
• Accreditation.
• Intermediate Care.
• Physical activity.
• Home environment.

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POPPs EVALUATION

• LOCAL EVALUATIONS AT EACH POPP PILOT SITE
• NATIONAL EVALUATION
• Commissioned by the DH to
• assess value for money and cost savings.
• measure impact of POPP on quality of life of
  older people.
• extract the learning from across the sites.

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FISHNets LOCAL EVALUATION

• Action research evaluation
• Northumbria University Research Centre for Health
  Community and Education Studies (CHESs)
• Economic evaluation
• Newcastle University Centre for Health Services
  Research (CHSR)

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Action research evaluation

• Our chosen operational definition of AR
• A period of inquiry that describes, interprets
  and explains social situations while executing a
  change intervention aimed at improvement and
  involvement. It is problem focused,
  context-specific and future-oriented.
• (Waterman et al 2001)

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Action research aims

• To map service initiatives/developments arising
  through FISHNets and ascertain the impact of
  these initiatives on service design and delivery.
• To explore the impact of FISHNets on the health,
  well being and QoL of older people.
• To contribute to organisational learning
  through the evaluation strategy.

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Action research methods

• Older people trained as researchers to conduct
  interviews with their peers.
• Schedule for Evaluation of Individual Quality of
  Life (SEIQoL) to be used for exploring impact of
  specific interventions
• Collaborative learning groups inclusive of
  stakeholders and older people.
• Assessment of achievement of sub group targets.

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Action research cycle
Each subgroups objectives and proposed outcomes
will be integrated into a cyclical process
Reframe problem and/or amend plan
2nd action step
Evaluate
2nd cycle
1st cycle
1st action step
Problem identification
Planning
leaving FISHNets with a sustainable model for
continued development beyond the pilot
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Critical incident 1

• ETHICS AND RESEARCH GOVERNANCE

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Critical incident 2

• PARTICIPATION AND POLITICS

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Critical incident 3

• LOCAL VERSUS NATIONAL EVALUATION