Evaluating House of Memories in the Midlands
Added on Monday, March 31st, 2014
The ICC is delighted to have been commissioned by National Museums Liverpool (NML) to undertake further evaluation research on its acclaimed dementia care training initiative, House of Memories. Following a successful Northern programme in early 2013, NML has now received funding from the Department of Health to deliver House of Memories across the Midlands in March 2014, in collaboration with Birmingham Museum and Gallery; Leicester Guildhall; and Wollaton Hall, Nottingham.
Led by Kerry Wilson and Gayle Whelan, evaluation of the Midlands programme will be completed in two iterative stages, designed to advance learning outcomes of previous House of Memories evaluation studies and inform the development of a reliable, adaptable evaluation framework. The first phase will involve the design and testing of a standardised measure, which will assess the impact of House of Memories on participants’ subjective wellbeing in a dementia care context, and relative impact upon participants’ values, behaviours and skills as dementia carers (mapped against the National Dementia Strategy). During the second phase, key stakeholders from across the three participating venues will be invited to participate in a Social Return on Investment (SROI) workshop. Social value indicators identified during phase 1 (and consistent with previous evaluation studies) will inform analysis of the ‘cost benefit’ of House of Memories to NML and the Midlands region.
In summary, the proposed ‘two phase’ evaluation project is designed to facilitate a cohesive evidence base for NML and the Department of Health, by profiling the relative impact on Midlands’ participants in the first element of the evaluation, and its strategic translation as an economic value to the region’s care sector during phase 2. Recommendations will be made on the adaptability of relevant evaluation tools in assessing the impact of future incarnations of House of Memories and associated NML activities in different delivery contexts.
