Evaluation of the 'You First' Programme for Young Parents

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 This report presents findings from the evaluation of the You First pilot programme, undertaken by Ipsos MORI Scotland, in collaboration with Professor Sarah Cunningham-Burley. The study was commissioned by Communities Analytical Services on behalf of the Children and Families Directorate and the Directorate for Employment, Skills and Lifelong Learning. It used a mixed method approach involving qualitative and quantitative research with programme participants, professionals involved in delivering the programme and stakeholders. The evaluation aimed to explore the benefits of the You First programme and the ways in which these can be maximised through effective delivery.

Policy background

1.2 The Scottish Government's Early Years Framework sets out a commitment to "address the needs of those children whose lives, opportunities and ambitions are being constrained by Scotland's historic legacies of poverty, poor health, poor attainment and unemployment"². In order to achieve this, inequalities relating to health, deprivation and social inclusion must be addressed. One of the ways in which the Scottish Government has set out to achieve this is through a greater focus on early intervention schemes aimed at helping the most vulnerable young children and their families.

1.3 Alongside the Early Years Framework, a number of other social policy frameworks have been put in place to develop ways of tackling inequality issues. Achieving Our Potential³ aims to tackle poverty and income inequality through shorter term measures, such as removing barriers to employment, as well as by providing longer term support to parents and communities to break the inter-generational cycle of poverty. Equally Well⁴ recommends creating healthy environments that promote healthy lifestyles for children. GIRFEC⁵, a national approach to supporting and working with all children and young people, and their families, in Scotland is one mechanism used to deliver these frameworks.

1.4 Barnardo's Scotland were asked by the Scottish Government to look at how they could contribute to the Early Years Agenda in Scotland. A programme to support young parents from disadvantaged areas (You First) was chosen as these parents were under-represented in both Barnardo's service user portfolio and by public services more widely. You First is an early intervention scheme which offers short-term support to first time parents. It incorporates elements from each of the social policy frameworks mentioned above.

The pilot

1.5 The Scottish Government provided funding for a pilot of You First to be delivered by Barnardo's Scotland in East Lothian, Midlothian and West Lothian in three phases during 2010/2011. You First was very much a Barnardo's programme but they worked in partnership with the Scottish Government and NHS Lothian. While Barnardo's drove the design and development of the programme structure, there was very close discussion between the three partners in terms of the desired outcomes.

1.6 A total of nine⁶ programmes were delivered within the pilot and a further two programmes were delivered in a pre-pilot test phase. Phase 1 programmes ran between June and November 2010, Phase 2 programmes were delivered between January and July 2011 and Phase 3 programmes took place between July and December 2011.

1.7 You First offered parents a financial incentive of £20 per week for attendance and £5 per week towards travel expenses. In order that the effect of the financial incentive could be explored as part of the evaluation, it was decided that two of the programmes would operate without the financial incentive. In these programmes, parents received £5 per week towards travel expenses only. Details of the programmes are shown in Table 1.1.

Table 1.1: Programme details

Phase	Programme	Location	Financial incentive?
Phase 1	Programme 1	Midlothian	Yes
Phase 1	Programme 2	Midlothian	Yes
Phase 1	Programme 3	East Lothian	Yes
Phase 2	Programme 4	East Lothian	No
Phase 2	Programme 5	Midlothian	Yes
Phase 3	Programme 6	Midlothian	Yes
Phase 3	Programme 7	East Lothian	Yes
Phase 3	Programme 8	West Lothian	Yes
Phase 3	Programme 9	West Lothian	No

1.8 Barnardo's Scotland has been awarded funding, through the Inspiring Scotland Fund, to run further programmes in conjunction with health boards across Inverclyde, Renfrewshire, Lanarkshire, Forth Valley, Ayrshire & Arran, Tayside, Grampian, and Highland in 2012. These programmes do not form part of this evaluation.

Programme details

1.9 You First aims to support young parents and their children and is intended for first time parents who:

• are aged 21 or under
• have a child of less than one year of age
• live in the 15% most deprived areas of Scotland.

1.10 Although You First was pitched at parents as opposed to just mothers, no fathers attended during the pilot. Thus, where the term 'parents' has been used in this report to refer to the You First participants, it should be kept in mind that all participants were mothers.

1.11 Specific areas in which to run the programmes were selected by You First facilitators, in conjunction with health visitor teams, who were able to advise on the most appropriate locations on the basis of their knowledge of the local area⁷. Health visitors⁸ were then asked to approach all parents in their caseload who lived in the selected area. You First was presented to parents as an opportunity, rather than something that they should attend because they have done something wrong or because they 'needed' it. Parents who expressed an interest in attending were then visited at home by the programme facilitators in order to learn more about the programme and to discuss the topics they would like to cover at You First.

1.12 In total, 77⁹ parents attended the programmes. The average (mean) age of parents when they started the programme was 18 years and 11 months and the average (mean) age of their babies was 6 months. In terms of working status, 52 parents were unemployed, 21 were employed (on maternity leave) and 3 were students. All parents lived with their baby: 32 lived alone with their baby; 25 also lived with their partner; 18 also lived with their own parents and 1 parent lived with her grandparents.

1.13 Each You First programme ran for 20 weeks (group sessions one day a week for 16 weeks with home visits at the beginning and end) and aimed to help participants:

• connect with local and universal services
• access peer and community support
• improve their financial capability
• become more confident, capable parents.

1.14 In attending You First, participants were given the opportunity to complete an SCQF Level 4 qualification, the Youth Achievement Award.

1.15 Each group session lasted from 10.30am until 3.30pm with an hour for lunch at 12.30pm¹⁰. The sessions were designed to be flexible and, as such, the structure changed slightly from week to week based on the parents' preferred activities. However, broadly, the day was divided into two parts. In the morning, the parents put their baby into the crèche. This time was used to cover the topics that parents had selected at their first home visit and to complete any necessary paperwork for the Youth Achievement Award. The parents then spent the afternoon with their babies¹¹. This time was used to encourage parent and baby interaction and incorporated activities such as reading, singing, play and going on outings.

1.16 You First employed a person-centred approach designed to be responsive to the wants and needs of the parents. A feature of this approach was that parents were given the opportunity to select, from four predefined areas (health and well-being; finances; stages of development and a personal project), the topics they would like to cover in the morning sessions. In the programmes delivered as part of the pilot, the following topics tended to be covered:

• baby brain development
• baby first aid
• budgeting
• healthy eating (for babies and parents)
• home safety
• managing babies' behaviour
• meals on a budget
• planning for the future
• relationships
• routines.

Programme outcomes

1.17 In designing the Operating Specification for the programme (Appendix 1), Barnardo's Scotland formulated the following programme outcomes:

• identify the available supports and networks within the local community (including financial support)
• establish a link between available supports/networks and group participants
• enable group participants to identify barriers that prevent them from engaging in already existing community activities
• create a model of ongoing peer support for group participants
• to offer the opportunity to work towards gaining a qualification at SCQF Level 4.

1.18 Using Barnardo's Scotland Outcomes Framework, the programme manager identified individual outcomes for each programme participant and devised descriptors for each outcome (Pages 14-18 of Appendix 1). The outcomes stem from SHANARRI outcomes of the GIRFEC well-being wheel¹².

Evaluation approach

1.19 The evaluation framework approach was designed by Ipsos MORI and was agreed by the Research Advisory Group at the outset of the evaluation. It is shaped around the following key research questions:

• to what extent do parents gain benefits from the You First programme that are likely to lead to improved long term outcomes for children and families?
• what lessons can be learned from the pilot in order to maximise the benefits and ensure the sustainable roll-out of You First in the future?

1.20 These questions were then broken down into the following more specific evaluation objectives:

• evaluate the benefits of the You First programme for parents and families
• identify ways in which the benefits can be maximised and sustained in the short and medium term
• identify ways in which the content of the programme could be improved
• identify ways in which the delivery of the programme could be improved
• evaluate whether the programme is fulfilling its person-centred ideals
• evaluate the selection, assessment and referral system for the programme
• identify ways in which parent engagement can be improved, including exploring the impact of the financial incentive
• assess the effectiveness of the management and support structures in place for the programme
• assess the role of the facilitators and the experience skills and qualities required to fulfil the role effectively
• explore the impact the programme has on other related services.

1.21 These objectives were then further refined into specific questions, detailed in the evaluation framework summary table (Appendix 2).The evaluation framework was used to guide the data collection and analysis throughout the evaluation. The evaluation framework also provides the basis of the report structure, with the objectives forming the chapter headings and the specific questions forming subheadings within chapters. Where appropriate, specific questions have been amalgamated, amended or omitted in the report to reflect the emerging findings and the way in which the evaluation developed.

1.22 Appendix 3 shows how the specific questions in the benefits section of the evaluation framework relate to Barnardo's programme outcomes and the SHANARRI outcomes of the GIRFEC well-being wheel. When looking at the SHANARRI outcomes included beside each question, it should be remembered that the SHANARRI outcomes relate to children and not to parents. While children were participants of You First, they did not directly take part in the evaluation and, throughout this report, the benefits of the programme are discussed in relation to parents. Therefore, in identifying the appropriate SHANARRI outcomes, it was necessary to consider the anticipated benefits to children which may happen as a result of the benefits to parents. The SHANARRI outcomes are high level and, in many cases, one or more SHANARRI outcomes apply. Only those which are most relevant have been included.