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CHAPTER TWO AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
In line with the growing commitment to evidence-based policy-making within modernised government and to evidence-based practice within public health and health promotion ( NHS Health Scotland, 2005), the Scottish Executive's intention to commission an independent evaluation of Choose Life was signalled in the national strategy and action plan. The broad purpose of the evaluation during the first phase was to "assess … infrastructure and early impacts" and to "set the template for the next phase of the Choose Life strategy." The evaluation focus was deliberately formative, rather than summative, with the evaluation team expected to contribute a detailed understanding of processes and to work collaboratively and developmentally with key Choose Life actors (nationally and locally).
As stated in the invitation to tender (subsequently revised to take account of early developments in the implementation of the strategy), the main aims of this evaluation were to:
- Establish and apply measures to assess whether a sustainable infrastructure is being developed nationally and locally to support the Choose Life strategy in achieving its objectives
- Measure and review progress towards implementation of the 27 milestones identified in the Choose Life strategy and action plan (page 35) and set findings in context, nationally and internationally
- Examine whether and how Choose Life is stimulating effective forms of practice (nationally and in individual local areas)
- On the basis of findings, and in consultation with the Scottish Executive and the Research Advisory Group steering the evaluation, provide detailed and staged recommendations to guide the next phase of the action plan to achieve a 20 per cent reduction in suicides in Scotland by 2013, and the targeting of any funding available to support the next phase.
More specific objectives were to:
- Track the resources allocated by the Executive to the implementation of the strategy and action plan and investigate whether and how the money allocated to national and local initiatives is:
- stimulating local investment from Community Planning Partnerships ( CPPs)
- targeted at relevant priority groups
- being spent on proven effective practice and interventions
- stimulating innovation
- Investigate the structures established to support actions between agencies in each of the local authority areas ( CPPs) and nationally (for example, the Scottish Prison Service)
- Review the ways in which examples of effective practice are collected, assessed, disseminated and used, nationally and locally
- Identify and (if necessary) develop measures to be used to track progress towards meeting the goals set out in Choose Life and in local action plans
- Use the measures to assess progress towards the 27 national and local milestones and identify factors facilitating or hindering progress, engaging all relevant stakeholders
- Contribute to the identification of data, additional to that collected at present, which would be useful for tracking and monitoring suicide trends
- Make comparisons of findings, within Scotland, nationally and internationally (where appropriate and relevant). In particular, compare the suicide prevention strategy and action plan in Scotland with those of other countries.
Following a competitive tendering process, the Scottish Executive's Mental Health Research Team on behalf of the National Programme for Improving Mental Health and Well-being commissioned this consortium of researchers to conduct the evaluation of phase one of Choose Life. The evaluation was funded for a period of 24 months, starting in September 2004.
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