Suicide Bereavement Support Service: final evaluation report

8. Recommendations

Based on the evidence collected and the conclusions drawn over the full duration of the evaluation of the SBSS, this final report makes five recommendations. In summary these are:

1. The SBSS is made available to anyone in Scotland who has experienced a bereavement by suicide.

2. National and local suicide prevention activity should continue to gather insight and learning into the needs and preferences of different communities to inform any further service development that may be required.

3. Evaluation activity should be undertaken to capture learning and understand the effectiveness of any future service developments or new activity.

4. SWEMWBS is implemented in any new area that the service is launched.

5. The administration of SWEMWBS is included in the initial training and induction for new service staff as well as any continued support required to ensure staff are confident in its use.

These recommendations are discussed in further detail below.

The SBSS provides compassionate, sensitive, person-led and person-centred support that meets the preferences and needs of those bereaved by suicide. This has been critical to people having a positive experience of their engagement with the service.

Robust qualitative and quantitative evidence of the positive impact of the SBSS on people’s mental and emotional wellbeing has been gathered in both pilot areas. Furthermore, the qualitative evidence collected strongly demonstrates a range of additional benefits being generated because of the support people have received.

Several critical components of the delivery model and approach were identified which ensure people’s needs are met and that supported people have a positive experience of the support. These components should be considered essential in a service that supports people bereaved by suicide.

Based on the evidence and learning captured throughout this evaluation, it is the recommendation of this report that the SBSS is made available to anyone in Scotland who has experienced a bereavement by suicide. It is essential that in doing so, the elements of the service delivery model identified as critical to providing a positive experience and generating outcomes for people receiving support are maintained.

There are still gaps in understanding who is and who is not accessing the SBSS, and the reasons for this, and it is recommended that national and local suicide prevention planning and activity should continue to gather insight and learning into the needs and preferences of different communities to better understand and inform any further service development that is required.

There is not sufficient need for or value in any further external process and outcome evaluation should the service be rolled out to other areas of Scotland, assuming the delivery model remains unchanged. This evaluation has gathered sufficient evidence of the effectiveness of the model in providing a positive experience, meeting needs and generating positive outcomes for those supported by the service. However, if any service developments, changes or new activity is implemented or undertaken it is recommended that evaluation activity is carried out to ensure learning is captured and potential effectiveness is assessed.

SWEMWBS has provided valuable quantitative evidence about the positive impact that the support provided by the service has on the mental and emotional wellbeing of people supported by the service. The data gathered through the administration of SWEMWBS demonstrated that after three months of support, and at six months, scores were significantly higher than baseline. The average SWEMWBS score at baseline for the three-month group was 19.3, which rose by 2.8 to 22.1 after three months. For the subset whose SWEMWBS scores were measured at six months, scores rose by 3.5 from 19.0 to 22.5. It would be expected that these results should be similar if the service model was replicated in other areas.

It is therefore recommended that the use of SWEMWBS is implemented should the service be launched in a new area, with the results monitored as one of the centralised functions of the hub. Should the SWEMWBS results differ significantly from those generated during this evaluation, this would indicate that further investigation is required to understand the reasons for this. Aligned to this, there were some early challenges when implementing SWEMWBS in the pilot and it took time to achieve consistency in its administration across the service. It is, therefore, recommended that the administration of SWEMWBS features in the initial training and induction for new service staff alongside any continued support that is required to ensure staff are confident in its use.