Press Release
Issued on: Monday 21 May. For immediate release.
Issued by: National Schizophrenia Fellowship (Scotland)
Launch of User-Led Evaluation Guide
A new Guide to User Led Evaluations of Supported Employment Services is being launched
at a national conference on Monday 21 May in Edinburgh.
Entitled 'The Next Step', it is a practical guide to planning and carrying out evaluation of
supported employment services, and was produced by NSF (Scotland) Employment Support
Team in Dumfries and Galloway.
The Guide shows how people who use or participate in supported employment services can
learn to take the lead role in designing and conducting the evaluation. It also shows ways in
which lessons from an evaluation can be used to improve services and can feed into good
practice by other services.
According to Jan Hansen, Employment Services Manager in Dumfries and Galloway, the
evaluation threw up some unexpected benefits. ' Not only did this evaluation model teach
service users how to implement an evaluation exercise, but it also gave them the opportunity
to define the criteria by which the service would be assessed. This resulted in a much stronger
sense of ownership of the exercise by the service users, and several participants said that
taking part in the evaluation had helped improve their self-esteem, confidence and skills.'
The Guide is being promoted at the national conference of the Scottish Community Care
Forum on 21 May in Edinburgh. The Conference title is 'Messages to Take Away…Good
Practice in User and Carer Involvement', an appropriate theme for the dissemination of the
Guide.
The Next Step is free of charge, and as well as being promoted at the Conference will be
promoted to voluntary and statutory sector providers in the supported employment field by
way of an Introductory leaflet. Copies can be ordered from the NSF (Scotland) national
office, and orders should include a £5.00 payment per copy to cover postage, packaging and
handling costs.
For further information: email:
[email protected]
