We have written a blog post and hosted a webinar about shared measurement evaluation framework. In continuing to share our work in this area, we are pleased to share with you a project we undertook in northern British Columbia (BC).
In 2016, Northern Health (NH) undertook a request for proposals to increase the geographic reach of community-based HIV and hepatitis C (HCV) services beyond one urban area, where most of these services had been located historically. NH provides health services to nearly 300,000 people dispersed across an area of 600,000 square kilometre in the northern two-thirds of BC. A total of $1.56M was awarded to 11 community-based not-for-profit and First Nations health organizations who now offer education, prevention/harm reduction, testing, case management, treatment and support services across the region. NH also established the HIV/HCV Specialized Support Team (SST) in effort to support and integrate primary, community and specialized services for HIV and HCV across northern BC.
NH took a unique and innovative approach by developing the Northern HIV & HCV Network (i.e. the Network) to facilitate sharing of learnings and best practices amongst the contracted organizations. The Network members included NH staff including members of the SST, and representatives from the eleven NH-contracted organizations, the First Nations Health Authority, and the Pacific AIDS Network (PAN). The Network meets on a quarterly basis to provide program updates, share information/tips, and strategize around common issues faced by NH-contracted organizations.
NH contracted PAN to develop and implement a shared measurement framework to evaluate the important work community-based organizations and the SST have conducted and the impacts they have created on their clients (e.g. in relation to quality of life and social connectedness). This evaluation also assessed the network approach to working together and built evaluation capacity of HIV/HCV community-based organizations in northern BC. A shared measurement evaluation framework was developed and data was collected using two survey tools: a survey for the NH-contracted organizations and the SST, and a client survey for people living with or at risk of acquiring HIV and/or HCV.
Key findings from this evaluation, and lessons learned from employing network approach and utilizing shared measurement framework were presented at the 2018 Canadian Association for HIV Research (CAHR) Conference. Please click here to view the poster Nurturing an Innovative Network in Northern British Columbia: Building Connections and Learning from a Novel Shared Measurement Evaluation.
Questions? Feedback? Get in touch!Please contact Mona Lee, PAN’s Evaluation Manager at [email protected].