We provide accessible, timely and objective evaluations of projects and programmes. We help you identify where things are working well, and where improvements or adjustments can be made. Our evaluation reports have been commended by the Big Lottery Fund as providing detailed, accessible information on the effect and impact of regionally-funded projects.
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Mental Health in the Workplace |
In 2010, the Yorkshire and Humber Improvement Partnership developed a programme of free-to-attend one-day awareness raising courses specifically targeting line managers. This was part of its PSA 16 delivery strategy, to support the development of that general approach to mental health and employment. This programme of courses, Mental Health in the Workplace: Skills for Line Managers, was delivered by a portfolio of providers that at one stage included 15 individual companies and organisations. Between June 2010 and January 2011 this evaluation surveyed 603 participants on Skills for Line Managers, 68.2% of whom agreed to take part in a follow-up survey two or three months after the training. The evaluation shows that line managers’ expectations in terms of gaining a better understanding of mental health and employment were met by the training, and this improved understanding sustained after a period back at work, as did their ability to intervene earlier, and their awareness of best practice in supporting employees with a mental health condition. The evaluation found that participants felt considerably more confident in their ability to support someone with a mental health condition after the training than they had done before it, and that this confidence was largely sustained after two or three months back in the workplace. |
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Evaluation of Reaching Out |
This project involved the evaluation of the WomenCentre’s outreach programme of holistic support for socially isolated women in the Upper Calder Valley, in Brighouse, Rastrick and Elland, and West Park in Halifax. The evaluation led to a full, designed report and a short DVD of interviews with five of the women who took part, as well as project staff and volunteers. Our report was commended by the Big Lottery Fund as a thorough and value-adding evaluation.
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Working Journeys: the Skills Passport Employability Programme at the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust |
Following from a successful Yorkshire Forward/NHS funded Employability pilot at the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, the Trust developed their own 'Skills passport' initiative in 2009. This evalaution tells the story of that programme through the evidence provided from participant group interviews and individual story-telling sessions. The interviews and story-telling sessions formed the basis for the case studies included in the report, and also for the accompanying DVD. This evalaution work was commissioned by the Sheffield Work and Skills Board (2009).
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Evaluation of Working Minds |
Working Minds is a city-wide Leeds project specialising in working with people who have experience of mental health difficulties to access and sustain employment related opportunities. Research Toolkit was commissioned by the Project Managers at Working Minds to conduct an evaluation of its effectiveness from the perspective of service users, employers and the Board members of Working Minds.
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Parents and carers: a report outlining activities and strategies available across West Yorkshire to support Parents and Carers in developing their own educational aspirations, as well as those of their children |
There is an extensive body of research which confirms that the role of parents and carers as key stakeholders in the education of children and young people is indisputable. This evaluation work captured the essence of a range of positive approaches to working with parents and carers from across the West Yorkshire region. This evalaution work was funded by Aimhigher West Yorkshire (2010).
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Work and Health: Changing People's Lives |
This is an evaluation of the Yorkshire and the Humber NHS Regional Employability Programme, supported by Yorkshire Forward, which has established projects for economically inactive people to access training and work placements in their local hospitals and facilities, with many entering substantive employment both in the NHS and other sectors of the economy. The project was commissioned by NHS/Yorkshire Forward (2008).
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