Take Two - Third Evaluation Report More than Words ... - Berry Street

CYPP due to changes made in the new DHS Client
Relationship Information System (CRIS) 3 . For example,
the original HCA document was designed by Take Two
and SoPac Solutions (a computer software company)
to enable data to be electronically imported into a
database. When the HCA was incorporated into CRIS,
this importing capacity was inadvertently removed. This
led to a much more time-consuming data collection
process. This was exacerbated by problems within the
Berry Street computer system which led to a loss of
data, requiring data re-entry. As reported in the next
chapter, a project has recently completed in partnership
with DHS to upgrade the HCA which has resolved these
data importation dif culties.
Another area of newfound dif culty was some data
errors occurring in the CRIS version of the CYPP
document. This involved inaccuracies regarding
placement and child protection history, leading to more
time-consuming data entry and some documents not
being able to be analysed. For example, some CYPP
documents only reported placement history for the
current episode of child protection involvement instead
of the child’s overall placement history. CYPP documents
with apparent unreliable data were excluded from
analysis leading to increased missing data for some
items. 4
2.5 Data collection regarding Aboriginal
children and the work of the Aboriginal
team
The Aboriginal team’s expressed interest in being
further involved in the evaluation process provided
an opportunity to more fully describe some important
aspects of Aboriginal children’s social and emotional
wellbeing and more accurately describe the work
of the Aboriginal team. The increase in the staff
establishment of the Aboriginal team also facilitated
their ability to follow their interest and commitment
to improving Take Two’s work with Aboriginal children
and identifying that research may assist this endeavour.
The research project funded by the Australian Institute
for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
(AIATSIS) regarding assessment of Aboriginal children
built on and strengthened the partnership between La
Trobe University, Take Two and VACCA to explore how
to assess Aboriginal children’s social and emotional
wellbeing. It enabled the appointment of an Aboriginal
Research Of cer, Jane Harrison, who made a major
contribution to Take Two’s ability to think about research
for Aboriginal children.
In describing the Aboriginal Take Two client group a
detailed analysis of referral and other client data was
undertaken as well as analysis of the Take Two ATSI
Assessment Tools. The original purpose of these tools
was to assist non-Aboriginal clinicians to explore aspects
of the child’s cultural connection and knowledge,
including the knowledge of those caring for the child.
The purpose has since grown to include assessment for
all Aboriginal children in Take Two and to eventually be
able to measure whether or not changes have occurred.
The ATSI Assessment Tool was initially developed in
2005 by Shaun Coade and Les Corlett who brought
10
together their experience and cultural knowledge to
create the tool which was then piloted in Take Two. This
tool began to be used in 2006 and was later adapted to
enable capacity to measure change (Coade & Corlett,
2008). Earlier versions had more open-ended questions,
whereas the latest version has a mixture of xed choice
and open questions and is a semi-structured design.
The development of this tool and preliminary data
analysis is described in Chapter 5. The data include all
ATSI Assessment Tools completed at the time of writing,
rather than limiting them to a particular time period, so
as to maximise the data available and as they are not
being used at this stage as an outcome measure.
Copies of the ATSI Assessment Tools are sent to the
Aboriginal team to assist their consultation for non-
Aboriginal staff. The Aboriginal team forward copies
of the tools to the research team for data entry on to
an SPSS data base for analysis, As the earlier versions
of the ATSI Assessment Tools had more open-ended
questions, the research team was required to do more
coding when entering the data. For the purposes of
data validity, these data were entered by one member
of the team and then cross-checked by another. Areas
of potential confusion were discussed with a member
of the Aboriginal team or the clinician who completed
the tool.
The Aboriginal team agreed to complete a timein-motion
activity log for a week, with some team
members completing the log for longer. These data
enabled a more detailed exploration of the ‘day in the
life of’ members of the Aboriginal team in their clinical
and community work.
Another aspect of the work of the Take Two Aboriginal
team was the training and community intervention
approach referred to as Yarning up on Trauma. Data
for this analysis included reviewing the feedback
surveys routinely requested by participants attending
the training. These surveys are completed at the end
of each day of the workshops and include the following
questions: ‘Was the training helpful to you in your
work?’, ‘What was most helpful?’, ‘What was least
helpful?’, ‘What thoughts and feelings will you take
away from this training?’, ‘How can we improve this
training?’ and ‘Any other comments?’
The recently published Yarning up on Trauma booklet
(Coade, Downey, & McClung, 2008) describes the content
of the training. The PowerPoint presentations and the
participant’s handbook were also available for analysis.
In late 2008 a member of the research team attended
the training as a participant-observer. Finally, three of
those involved in the development of the package were
interviewed for this evaluation: namely, Shaun Coade
(Manager — Aboriginal Services Development, Take
Two); Lisa McClung (Senior Clinician, Aboriginal team,
Take Two); and Chrisie Warren (Manager of Learning
and Development, VACCA).
2.6 Research circles
A component of the original research methodology
was to establish research circles in different parts of
the state. Three ongoing research circles have been
implemented and are analysed in this report. Research
3 See Glossary for further description.
4 All dif culties identi ed with the accuracy of the data were raised with DHS as part of their quality improvement processes within the CRIS
project.
Frederico, Jackson, & Black (2010) “More than Words” – Take Two Third Evaluation Report, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Australia