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Effective Interventions Unit
Programme 2004-2005

THE UNIT'S APPROACH

The Unit has built on its original model to adopt a range of approaches to evidence gathering. That model incorporated:

In the past 3 years, this model was the basis of our reviews and guides on employability (Moving On), young people with problem drug use, integrated care and family support. In addition, we consult with a range of people from agencies and services who deal with people with drug misuse problems and draw on the knowledge and experience of our Reference Groups and working groups.

While we continue to use the elements of that model, we are now developing our research and evidence gathering through a variety of other methods: for example, telephone surveys, seminars with key professionals, interviews and visits to services.

Facilitation and support

In the last year, we have had the opportunity to run joint, local seminars with West Dunbartonshire Council on young people and Midlothian DAAT on integrated care. These seminars were designed to explore how the EIU evidence base could be applied to their local circumstances and have provided useful lessons to build on for future events.

The Unit now plans to put more effort into collaborating with DAATs and local partners to organise local seminars or workshops tailored to local needs and circumstances. We have already begun this process for information sharing which is core to the development of integrated care. We developed our proposals for the information sharing workshops with a working group drawn from DAATs and other key players and we are now following the same process for integrated care. Plans for employability workshops are in the early stages.

We are also keen to explore the possibilities of facilitation with local teams or groups who have a specific remit e.g. to develop an employability action plan, carry out a needs assessment or a system of care co-ordination. In this context, EIU could provide a neutral and objective person to reflect on the current evidence of effective practice and facilitate discussions about the way ahead on key topics and issues.

To discuss local workshops or other types of facilitation and support, contact us at EIU@scotland.gsi.gov.uk or 0131 244 5058.

Support for evaluation

To date, we have made less progress on support for the evaluation of pilots or innovative services to test out new approaches to service design and delivery. We are engaged with the evaluation of the Community Addiction Teams in Glasgow and with the pilot psychostimulant service in Aberdeen. In the coming year we will explore further opportunities in support of the action arising from the Treatment and Rehabilitation Review. More recently, we have supported 2 DAATs in the design of evaluations of services. We would be interested in doing more of this kind of activity.

On this basis we have adapted our model

Methods of Working

We continue to work in an open way and to engage with a wide range of people from a range of agencies and service providers developing and disseminating our work. In 2003-04 we held 8 events attended by 375 people. We have again used Reference Groups and smaller working groups drawn from Drug Action Teams, health and social care professionals, drug services, employability services, researchers, managers and practitioners. This year we have used a new technique of telephone interviews carried out by team members to inform our work on information sharing and needs assessment. We commissioned SDF to carry out a focus group study to gather views of service users about advocacy. We also carried out a series of visits to services. We have published 16 guides, reviews and research reports. Details are set out in Appendices A to C.

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