Qualitative evidence for SANDS Lothians

Charities and third sector organisations are often sitting on lots of very useful qualitative evidence, and I have already written a short blot post article on some common sources of data that can support funding applications, evaluations and impact assessments. We wanted to do a ‘qualitative case study’: to work with one local charity to explore what qualitative evidence they already had, what they could collect, and use Quirkos to help create some reports and impact assessments.

SANDS Lothians is an Edinburgh based charity that provides long-term counselling and support for families who have experienced bereavement through the loss of a child near-birth. They approached us after seeing advertisements for one of our local qualitative training workshops.

Director Nicola Welsh takes up the story. “During my first six months in post, I could see there was much evidence to highlight the value of our work but was struggling to pull this together in some order which was presentable to others. Through working with Daniel and Kristin we were able to start to structure what we were looking to highlight and with their help begin to organise our information so it was available to share with others. Quirkos allowed us to pull information from service users, stats and studies to present this in a professional document. They gave us the confidence to ask our users about their experiences and encouraged us to record all the services we offered to allow others at a glance to get a feel for what we provide.”

First of all, we discussed what would be most useful to the organisation. Since they were in discussion with major partners about possible funding, an impact assessment would be valuable in this process.

They also identified concerns from their users about a specific issue, prescriptions for anti-depressants, and wanted to investigate this further. It was important to identify the audience that SANDS Lothians wanted to reach with this information, in this case, GPs and other health professionals. This set the format of a possible output: a short briefing paper on different types of support that parents experiencing bereavement could be referred to.

We started by doing an ‘evidence assessment’ (or evidence audit as this previous blog post article notes), looking for evidence on impact that SANDS Lothians already had. Some of this was quantitative, such as the number of phone calls received on a monthly basis. As they had recently started counting these calls, it was valuable evidence of people using their support and guidance services. In the future they will be able to see trends in the data, such as an increase in demand or seasonal variation that will help them plan better.

They already had national reports from NHS Scotland on Infant Mortality, and some data from the local health board. But we quickly identified a need for supportive scientific literature that would help them make a better case for extending their counselling services. One partner had expressed concerns that counselling was ineffective, but we found a number of studies that showed counselling to be beneficial for this kind of bereavement. Finding these journal articles for them helped provide legitimacy to the approach detailed in the impact assessment.

In fact, a simple step was to create a list of all the different services that SANDS Lothians provides. This had not been done before, but quickly showed how many different kinds of support were offered, and the diversity of their work. This is also powerful information for potential funders or partners, and useful to be able to present quickly.

Finally, we did a mini qualitative research project!

A post on their Facebook page asking for people to share experiences about being prescribed antidepressants after bereavement got more than 20 responses. While most of these were very short, they did give us valuable and interesting information: for example, not all people who had been suggested anti-depressants by their GP saw this as negative, and some talked about how these had helped them at a difficult time.

SANDS Lothians already had amazing and detailed written testimonials and stories from service users, so I was able to combine the responses from testimonials and comments from the Facebook feed into one Quirkos project, and draw across them all as needed.

Using Quirkos to pull out the different responses to anti-depressants showed that there were similar numbers of positive and negative responses, and also highlighted parent’s worries we had not considered, such as the effect of medication if trying to conceive again. This is the power of an qualitative approach: by asking open questions, we got a responses about issues we wouldn’t have asked about in a direct survey.

When writing up the report, Quirkos made it quick and easy to pull out supportive quotes. As I had previously gone through and coded the text, I could click on the counselling bubble, immediately see relevant comments, and copy and paste them into the report. Now SANDS Lothians also has an organised database of comments on how their counselling services helped clients, which they can draw on at any time.

Nicola explains how they have used the research outputs. “The impact assessment and white paper has been extremely valuable to our work. This has been shared with senior NHS Lothian staff regarding possible future partnership working.  I have also shared this information with the Scottish Government following the Bonomy recommendations. The recommendations highlight the need for clear pathways with outside charities who are able to assist bereaved parents. I was able to forward our papers to show our current support and illustrate the position Lothians are in regarding the opportunity to have excellent bereavement care following the loss of a baby. It strengthened the work we do and the testimonials give real evidence of the need for this care.

I have also given our papers out at recent talks with community midwives and charge midwives in West Lothian and Royal Infirmary Edinburgh. Cecilia has attached the papers to grant applications which again strengthens our applications and validates our work.”

Most importantly, SANDS Lothians now have a framework to keep collecting data, “We will continue to record all data and update our papers for 2016.  Following our work with Quirkos, we will start to collate case studies which gives real evidence for our work and the experiences of parents.  Our next step would be to look specifically at our counselling service and its value.”

“The work with Quirkos was extremely helpful. In very small charities, it is difficult to always have the skills to be an expert in all areas and find the time to train. We are extremely grateful to Daniel and Kristin who generously volunteered their time to assist us to produce this work. I would highly recommend them to any business or third sector organisation who need assistance in producing qualitative research.  We have gained confidence as a charity from our journey with Quirkos and would most definitely consider working with them again in the future.”

It was an incredible and emotional experience to work with Nicola and Cecilia at SANDS Lothians on this small project, and I am so grateful to for them for inviting us in to help them, and sharing so much. If you want any more information about the services they offer, or need to speak to someone about losing a baby through stillbirth, miscarriage or soon after birth, all their contact details are available on their website: https://www.sands-lothians.org.uk .

If you want any more information about Quirkos and a qualitative approach, feel free to contact us directly, or there is much more information on our website. Download a free trial, or read more about adopting a qualitative approach.