Evaluation of the Thalidomide Trust HealthLink Service
The Thalidomide Trust established HealthLink, an advice and advocacy service for people affected by Thalidomide who need help with health problems and/or health services, in 2007. Acton Shapiro is carrying out an evaluation of the service for the Trust to explore how its objectives are being met, so that the Trust can take an informed decision about the future of the service.
The evaluation, to be completed in November 2009, will:
- gain an in-depth understanding of how HealthLink has made a difference to people and their families and achieved the outcomes they wanted
- examine the ‘take-up’ and use of the information being prepared and shared by HealthLink
- explore why some people who could benefit from the service do not contact HealthLink
- identify ways in which the service could be improved or developed both in the short and long term.
There will be five main parts to the evaluation:
- Design and distribution of a short feedback questionnaire to all those who have used HealthLink
- Carrying out more in-depth telephone interviews with a sample of service users, in order to: assess the impact of HealthLink on service users; explore the benefits people have gained from their contact with the service, and consider how the service could be improved
- Examining the number of ‘hits’ and ‘downloads’ from the HealthLink pages on the Trust’s website
- Facilitating a discussion group about HealthLink at the Trust’s Annual Convention in May.
- Exploring why some people don’t contact HealthLink, through an anonymous questionnaire.
The evaluation team is working closely with colleagues from The Thalidomide Trust and its HealthLink service to ensure that learning from the evaluation is shared throughout its life, including an interim report. A plain English summary will be produced for wider distribution to those who have contributed to the evaluation. |
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