Evaluability assessment of the Live Fear Free helpline

Main findings

There was strong support among staff and stakeholders for an evaluation of the Helpline as a way of examining service users’ assessments of the service.

A number of challenges for evaluating the impact of the Helpline were identified, including:

• lack of a clear and shared understanding of the Helpline aim and objectives
• lack of resources and/or expertise to design and tailor monitoring and evaluation systems to ensure that outcomes and impacts are assessed as part of the contract
• limited data about service user engagement and problems of measurement and attribution
• ethical constraints

A mixed methods approach to evaluation was proposed as an option for future contracts, involving:

• a process evaluation investigating the process of delivery
• use of the Helpline by service users
•  perceptions of the effectiveness and quality of the service provided, alongside a potential quantitative investigation of outcomes and anticipated impacts of the Helpline

Background

The research aimed to assess the evaluability of the Live Fear Free Helpline service in order to inform the development of a renewed tender specification for the new contract to commence from 1 October 2020.