Housing and Support Program (HASP): Final Evaluation Report

More documents

Recommendations

Info

46 Section 4 The process of providing clinical, non-clinical and housing services to clients 4.4 Section summary Case Managers were held in high regard by clients. Many clients attributed improvements in their health to their Case Manager. Indeed, over 60% of clients believed that their Case Manager had helped them with their symptoms. Consistency in the same Case Manager was valued by clients and support staff. However, only 6% of clients had the same Case Manager for the entire 12 months prior to interview. Notwithstanding this, most clients (89%) indicated that they could get in contact with their Case Manager if they had a problem. Over 78% of clients felt that Case Managers understood their problems and 91% claimed to know what their medications were used for. Both Case Managers and support workers expressed satisfaction with the collaborative working relationships they had developed. Ninety-fi ve percent of Case Managers outlined that they valued the support worker role and 92% felt that support workers had a valuable role to play in the treatment planning process. However, support workers raised concerns about Case Manager involvement in HASP and felt that Case Managers could play a greater role in the overall program. Reasons highlighted for the perceived lack of involvement included the high caseloads that some Case Managers were expected to carry and the presence of support workers in the lives of the clients. Case Managers carried out their role in the knowledge that support workers would contact them should they observed changes in client functioning. This fi nding supports earlier work in New South Wales that found Case Managers had less involvement with clients supported by NGOs due to the auxiliary services provided by support workers (Muir et al., 2006). Final Evaluation Report Thirty-two different support agencies (n=32) provide services to the 80 clients enrolled in the evaluation. All of these agencies have different levels of experience in the provision of support to individuals with mental illness. Nonetheless, consumers see the interventions provided by support workers as being instrumental in maintaining them in their chosen community. Overall, 85% of clients were satisfi ed/very satisfi ed with the activities that support workers do for/with them. Support workers felt, as a result of their interactions with Case Managers, that they had an important role to play in the treatment process. However, just over half (54%) agreed that Case Managers had provided them with as much information as they needed. Six in every 10 support workers expressed a desire to have a greater say in the services provided to HASP clients. Only one-third of support workers indicated that they were involved in developing care plans for clients. However, in most support agencies this task is managed by the Supports Coordinator who passes on relevant information to the support workers. The training of support workers was raised by Case Managers (and support workers themselves). Both groups felt that support workers required more training in a range of areas so as to be more effective in the provision of services to clients with complex needs. Almost half of the support workers (45%) who participated felt that they needed more training to be able to work effectively with their HASP clients. Finally, the level of support required by clients seems to decrease with the passage of time. Support hours provided each week decreased by an average of 7.13 hours from a mean of 27.6 hours on entry into HASP to a mean of 20.4 hours at the follow-up time-point.
The majority of HASP clients (76%) lived on their own. However, 22% felt that in the future, they would like to live with a roommate or friend. The evaluation team notes that while HASP clients are not prevented from sharing a house should they prefer this option, they are unable to share the support services they receive. It may be worth exploring how the program can better facilitate shared accommodation for a small sub-group of clients who may prefer this option. Fourteen of the 80 clients in our sample moved accommodation since joining HASP. Eleven of these moved once, one moved twice and two moved thrice. There were three main reasons cited for moving — noise from neighbours and or unable to get along with neighbours (n=8), dislike of the area in which they lived (n=3), and to be closer to family (n=3). While this could be viewed as a negative for the program, it is reassuring that clients can ask to be relocated to a new neighbourhood and relocation appears to be feasible when the need occurs. Themes that emerged from the interviews with clients suggest that stable housing plays an important role in one’s recovery. Clients viewed their housing as being important in providing stability and it offered a platform from which to undertake other elements of the recovery process (fi nding a job, etc). Two other themes included a ‘sense of freedom’ and a ‘sense of home’. Housing and Support Program (HASP) 47
Page 1 and 2:
Department of Psychiatry (UQ) and S
Page 3 and 4: Final Evaluation Report of the Quee
Page 5 and 6: • Community integration While eig
Page 7 and 8: List of contents Executive summary
Page 9 and 10: Section 1 Introduction Since the 19
Page 11 and 12: 1.1.1 HASP — Management Structure
Page 13 and 14: 1.2 Housing and supports - previous
Page 15 and 16: Table 1.2.2 Outcomes for clients mo
Page 17 and 18: activities, while others tried to c
Page 19 and 20: 1.2.6 Section summary It is clear f
Page 21 and 22: Section 2 Method 2.1 Design The stu
Page 23 and 24: 2.2.1.2 Clients unavailable to part
Page 25 and 26: 2.2.1.5 Clinical staff — sample F
Page 27 and 28: 4) Data collected from mental healt
Page 29 and 30: 2.4 Procedure 2.4.1 Clients - proce
Page 31 and 32: All focus group discussions and ind
Page 33 and 34: However, it was clear that the deve
Page 35 and 36: Importance of the Supports Facilita
Page 37 and 38: Accountability There was a percepti
Page 39 and 40: Support workers highlighted issues
Page 41 and 42: 4.1.2 Client perceptions of support
Page 43 and 44: In general, Case Managers expressed
Page 45 and 46: 4.2.2 Client perceptions of the amo
Page 47 and 48: Support workers felt, as a result o
Page 49 and 50: 4.2.8 Amount of support required in
Page 51 and 52: 4.3.2 Living arrangements The major
Page 53: 4.3.7 Housing in HASP — compariso
Page 57 and 58: 5.2 Satisfaction with key life doma
Page 59 and 60: 5.7 Depth of friendships We explore
Page 61 and 62: 5.11 Community involvement Clients
Page 63 and 64: 5.13 Section summary During our int
Page 65 and 66: etter functioning). However, while
Page 67 and 68: 6.7 Physical and mental health Link
Page 69 and 70: 6.10 Section summary The average ti
Page 71 and 72: 7.2 Comparing HASP with inpatient/r
Page 73 and 74: of applications, increase Case Mana
Page 75 and 76: available when and where needed by
Page 77 and 78: 8.4 The ability of the program to m
Page 79 and 80: Section 9 Recommendations 1. More i
Page 81 and 82: Section 10 Reference list Anthony,
Page 83 and 84: Shepherd, G., Murray, A. & Muijen,
Page 85 and 86: Housing and Support Program (HASP)
show all

Housing and Support Program (HASP): Final Evaluation Report

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?