Making every contact count with seldom‐heard groups? A qualitative evaluation of voluntary and community sector (VCS) implementation of a public health behaviour change programme in England.

HARRISON, Deborah, WILSON, Rob, GRAHAM, Andy, BROWN, Kristina, HESSELGREAVES, Hannah and CIESIELSKA, Malgorzata (2022). Making every contact count with seldom‐heard groups? A qualitative evaluation of voluntary and community sector (VCS) implementation of a public health behaviour change programme in England. Health & Social Care in the Community, 30, e3193-e3206.

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Abstract

Making Every Contact Count (MECC) is a national, long-term public health strategy in England. It supports public-facing workers to use opportunities during routine contacts to enable healthy lifestyle changes. This paper reports the findings from an external evaluation of voluntary and community sector (VCS) delivery of MECC in the North East of England, which focused on engaging under-represented client groups. The study aimed to (a) Establish if (and how) MECC had impacted the workforce, including changes to staff knowledge, confidence and behaviour; (b) Identify benefits, challenges and unintended consequences; and (c) Explore outcomes for service users. A multi-stage qualitative design focused on understanding both process and outcomes. The study utilised three data collection methods, including a journey mapping workshop (n = 20), semi-structured interviews with delivery leads, VCS workers and volunteers who had accessed MECC training (n = 11), and focus group discussions with clients (n = 22). The findings illustrated positive early outcomes, including improvements in self-reported staff knowledge and confidence as well as emerging examples of organisational culture shift and individual behaviour change. Alongside this, the data provided a rich picture of barriers and challenges which are examined at different levels—national programme, local programme, VCS sector, partner organisation, worker and client. The research highlights clear successes of the VCS delivery model. However, it is presented as a ‘double-edged sword,’ in light of associated challenges such as sector-level funding uncertainty and accessibility of MECC resources to diverse client groups. The discussion considers issues related to the measurement and attribution of behaviour change outcomes for brief interventions, as well as fidelity, legacy and long-term sustainability challenges. The recommendations call for system-level analysis and comparison of different MECC implementation models, to improve our understanding of challenges, opportunities and programme reach for behaviour change intervention programmes—particularly in relation to seldom-heard client groups.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	1117 Public Health and Health Services; 1607 Social Work; Nursing; 4203 Health services and systems; 4206 Public health; 4409 Social work
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1111/hsc.13764
Page Range:	e3193-e3206
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Elements
Depositing User:	Symplectic Elements
Date Deposited:	14 Mar 2023 10:00
Last Modified:	11 Oct 2023 16:45
URI:	https://shura.shu.ac.uk/id/eprint/31659

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