This section presents 5 key themes found through the Connected Communities research project (Section 2) on community signposting services, & the ways that services have found to respond to challenges (-) & opportunities (+):
Theme 1: Flexibility of services
Theme 2: Collaborative delivery
Theme 3: Challenges meeting people’s more complex needs
Theme 4: Service resource availability
Theme 5: Understanding service impacts
These strategies aim to help make use of opportunities & avoid similar problems in sustaining your service.
There is also guidance below on how to evaluate your service.
Evaluating community signposting services
Why evaluate community signposting services?
Evaluation is important to consider & measure how successful community signposting services are in improving people’s well-being & their ability to use services.
It helps services to meet people’s needs, highlight areas to improve & encourage best practice.
Asking people to share their lived experiences can offer a more complete understanding of service impacts.
Collecting evidence for outcomes & community impacts can support services to attract further funding.
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How to collect evidence?
Evidence (data) can be collected using a variety of methods:
– monitoring attendance
– shared databases to track engagement
– informal feedback (e.g. thank you notes/emails)
– (pre- & post-) service use surveys
– case studies
– interviews & focus groups (with service users, providers & wider community)
Who can collect evidence to evaluate community signposting services?
– Signposters
– Staff
– Operating organisations
– Funders
– Linked providers
– Volunteers
– Service user forums
– External research teams