Realistic and appreciative: developing a dual model of evaluation of ‘Transforming Care after Treatment’ programme in Scotland

Johnston, Lucy; Smith, Stephen

Abstract

Background: The Transforming Care after Treatment programme in Scotland (TCAT) aims to improve the after care for people living with and beyond cancer by focussing on improving patient experience/outcomes, enhancing service integration/coordination, increasing the patient voice and empowering practitioners with the skills, knowledge, attitudes and behaviours to support excellence in survivorship. Funded by Macmillan Cancer Support, TCAT established national and regional structures to support the implementation of 25 projects, each with different approaches.

The methodological approach applied to the programme evaluation is Realistic Evaluation in combination with Appreciative Inquiry, to all fieldwork and analysis. Our findings to date illustrate the added value of evaluating change through these theoretical ‘lens’.

Methodological Discussion: Combining evaluation models provides a focus for fieldwork and analysis aiming to enhance understanding regarding: context of the projects, the drivers of change and resulting outcomes. In addition, there is a deliberate focus on what works well and understanding why and how success can be generalised and deliberately replicated and transferred to other areas.

Fieldwork (May 2014 to October 2016) will be used as an exemplar of this dual model. The mixed methods include the demographics and concerns of over 2,000 people, in depth interviews with stakeholders (n=21); focus group discussions with local projects at the start and end of implementation (n = 14) and an annual online survey of wider stakeholders (n = 195 in 2015 and n=220 in 2016) with a 55% response rate.

Conclusion: This combination has been adopted to recognise and understand key findings in the real world from numerous local multi-component interventions within a complex regional and national programme structure.

This presentation will discuss the benefits and challenges of combining these theoretical approaches into our fieldwork and a more in depth discussion regarding building CMO’s (context, mechanism and outcome) for future research hypothesis.

Citation

Johnston, L., & Smith, S. (2017, April). Realistic and appreciative: developing a dual model of evaluation of ‘Transforming Care after Treatment’ programme in Scotland. Poster presented at RCN International Nursing Research Conference 2017, Oxford

• Presentation Conference Type: Poster
• Conference Name: RCN International Nursing Research Conference 2017
• Conference Location: Oxford
• Start Date: Apr 5, 2017
• End Date: Apr 7, 2017
• Deposit Date: Aug 22, 2019
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/1239832
• Related Public URLs: https://www.rcn.org.uk/professional-development/research-and-innovation/research-events/rcn-2017-research-conference