Findings of the Evaluating Effectiveness of Participation projects

Seminar - 15 September 2008

In May 2007, health services together with their communities were invited by the Department of Human Services to submit Controlled before-and-after evaluation designs of consumer, carer and community participation interventions.

The projects were to be aimed at improving the quality and safety of health care. Support from the Cochrane Consumers and Communication Review Group (CCCRG) was provided to health services to develop designs during the course of the projects and at the time of writing the peer reviewed journal article (final report). The four successful projects were conducted by:

• Cobram District Hospital, Yarrawonga District Health Service and The University of Melbourne
• Orbost Regional Health Service, Yarram and District Health Service and the University of Tasmania
• Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
• South West Healthcare and Sage Hill Carers Service

These projects were conceived because:

• we value consumer, carer and community participation in decision making about health care and planning
• we need to build the evidence and put it into practice at the local level
• using a Controlled before-and-after methodology advances reporting and helps build an internationally accessible body of evidence.

The findings of the four projects and support provided by CCCRG are outlined in the presentations below:

Nursing home case management and family involvement in residents’ care, Cobram, Yarrawonga and The University of Melbourne (1.15mb, ppt)

Conversations with the community: a dialogue model of community participation – Orbost Regional Health, University of Tasmania and Yarram & District Health Service (895kb, ppt)

Improving medication safety through consumer partnerships during transitions from home to hospital and back again – Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre (364kb, ppt)

Both sides of the story – South West Health (1.5mb, ppt)

Cochrane Consumers and Communication Review Group Supporting Evaluating Effectiveness of Participation projects (1.6mb, ppt)

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