The Time of My Life Project: A Realist Evaluation

This report presents findings from an evaluation conducted, primarily, in year 2 of the project.  In particular, it presents the perspectives of a range of people who deliver or use TOML and should be read in conjunction with Aquarius’ TOML monitoring data. There are few specialist alcohol services for older people in the UK (Wadd et al. 2011). Public Health Birmingham’s 2013 Drug and Alcohol Needs Assessment identified 21 agencies offering some level of support for people with substance problems (Kilgallon 2013). TOML is, however, the only known specialist older people’s alcohol service. Methods This evaluation used an adapted version of a realist evaluation framework (Pawson and Tilley, 2004). Realist evaluation applies three core concepts – Context, Mechanism, and Outcome – to determine what works, for whom, how and in what context. Interviews and focus groups were carried out with key stakeholders (see Table 1) and thematically analysed.  Quantitative training data were collected and analysed across different time points to determine the extent to which characteristics of service users, family/carers, profession and organisation were associated with experiences of drinking behaviour or lifestyle among service users and families. Further tests explored any changes in attitudes, skills and practices among a range of professionals during training and, subsequently, in practice. A break-even economic analysis was also carried out. Table 1: Summary table of sam...
Source: Alcohol Research UK - Category: Addiction Authors: Tags: Alcohol Insights Source Type: news