Food & Health Alliance

Healthy Valleys in South Lanarkshire has been running a range of community development initiatives over the past decade, from a sexual health clinic for young people to healthy eating courses for adults and children.

All the schemes aim to improve health and reduce health inequalities. They are based on a social model of health which takes into consideration not just the presence or absence of disease but the social, mental and physical aspects of health and well-being.

But how exactly do you measure the impact of schemes that are so broad-based?

Evaluation has become increasingly important for those working in the health improvement field but it is not always easy to capture data that reflects the difference we are really making to improving people’s lifestyle and quality of life.

To try and tackle this problem head on Healthy Valleys commissioned IT specialists to design a bespoke database to help us analyse in more detail what we were doing. In this approach participants are first asked to complete a baseline survey. This is followed up by an interim questionnaire allowing us to assess if there have been any differences to the individual’s lifestyle, levels of anxiety, self-confidence and so on as a result of participating in one or more of our programmes. Finally, one year after the end of the programme participants are surveyed again to see if they have maintained lifestyle changes.

This methodology complements the more traditional outcomes-based evaluation. However, it should be noted that the data collected in this way is very subjective and depends on how the individual is feeling at the point of form-filling. This can have a negative effect on the analysis collated and can be frustrating when measuring difference and impact.

One of the early projects to be evaluated in this way was the Healthy Valleys Healthy Eating Programme, which provides a continuum of support for parents with babies under 12 months through to parents/carers and grandparents. The aim is to increase participants’ knowledge of healthy food and improve cooking skills.

Between January and March 2008 the programme ran 16 Ready Steady get Cooking sessions targeting 40 primary schoolchildren – in fact 51 children actually participated. It also held two Healthy Weaning Courses targeting 15 adults (nine participated) and 24 Feeding the Family sessions targeting 24 adults (25 participated).

So what were the results?

 The evaluation showed that participants:

• were more informed about healthy foods

• had improved self-confidence and self-esteem

• demonstrated improved knowledge of preparing food safely

• had improved cooking skills

• showed increased knowledge of fats, salt intake and sugars

• felt less isolated

• felt less stressed or anxious.

Some of the comments from the schoolchildren were:

‘I learned how to use knives safely’,

‘It should go on forever’ and

‘I learned about knives, salt and the difference between fruit and vegetables’.

There were also some unplanned outcomes.

Three people from Forth volunteered to join the Ready Steady get Cooking as trainers and three more volunteered to help deliver the Feeding the Family sessions.

In fact as a result of the variety of health interventions provided by Healthy Valleys, we have been able to move towards a model of sustainability. This involves recruiting and training local people as peer educators to deliver the healthy eating programme to their neighbours, friends and relatives. This also enables us to deliver more programmes and to other areas.

So has the evaluation demonstrated that we have made a difference?

We believe it has. It is particularly rewarding to see how many people are flourishing as a result of this community-led approach to health improvement and how the messages are being spread within the rural communities.