Suicide Bereavement Support Service: evaluation report - year 2

2. Evaluation methodology

The table below illustrates the fieldwork and data collection activity undertaken during this evaluation. Four phases of fieldwork took place over the duration of the evaluation. The fieldwork largely comprised one-to-one interviews by telephone or video call. During the final phase of fieldwork, service leads and service managers participated in a face-to-face group discussion. Table 1 provides a breakdown of SBSS staff participating in the evaluation during each fieldwork phase.

Table 2 provides a breakdown of interviews carried out over the duration of the evaluation with people supported by the service. It also details the interviews conducted with representatives of organisations that have made referrals to the service and those that have received referrals from the service.

All interviews were recorded and transcribed. The data was analysed thematically. Quantitative data was also collected by the service and shared with the evaluation team before each reporting phase. This included service monitoring and activity data (e.g. referral sources and support sessions delivered), which was organised and analysed using Microsoft Excel.

The service also administered the Short Warwick Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (SWEMWBS), which is administered three times (baseline, three months, and six months) by service staff with each person they are supporting who provides consent to complete it. There were 45 people whose SWEMWBS scores were measured at the start of the programme (baseline) and again at three months, and their scores were compared using a two-sided paired t-test. Of those, 24 people were also measured at six months, and their SWEMWBS scores were compared to their baseline scores using a two-sided paired t-test. As all the individuals in the six-month group were also in the three-month group, a Bonferroni correction was applied.