- Description of the programme
- The study
- Key findings
- Points to consider
Description of the programme
[This is an extract from the Executive Summary of the evaluation report. Further amendments may be made to this Summary, pending review by the Evidence Hub partner]
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Managing Chang£ aimed to explore to what extent a financial capability intervention, delivered through a training and referrals process, would positively impact the money management skills, knowledge and behaviours of people with chronic or acute mental health conditions.
- The target audience for the project were people aged between 18 to 64 years of age with acute or chronic mental health conditions. Service users who access support through day support services, supported housing, and floating support (schemes) delivered through Inspire Mental Health Services (Inspire) participated in the project.
- An intensive programme of financial capability training was provided to service users in Inspire schemes between summer and autumn 2017. Training focused on money management (budgeting, borrowing, saving, using on-line and paper based tools), as well as signposting to free and impartial advice services in the areas of debt and income maximisation (e.g. benefit checks).
- Overall 114 service users from 15 schemes engaged in the project, 93 service users actually took part in the first (week 1) training session, and 44 service users took part in all training sessions. A total of 82 surveys were completed by Money Champions across the baseline, post training and three-month follow-up surveys.
- In addition, three one-day training sessions, covering issues such as signposting, supported self-referrals, and financial capability mentoring were delivered to Inspire Mental Health Support Workers and Volunteers, who took on the role of Money Champion within their scheme. The three training sessions were delivered to 35 participants, including 30 Support Workers and five Volunteers.
The study
The evaluation design included an outcome and process evaluation, and limited cost effectiveness analysis. The evaluation captured a range of qualitative and quantitative data through pre-intervention and post-intervention surveys (including a post-training and a three-month follow-up survey), as well as interviews, focus groups, case-studies and observational data.
Key findings
- The evaluation found that Managing Chang£ delivered a positive impact to the levels of stress and anxiety experienced by service users in relation to money issues.
- The majority of service users continued to worry about their money situation, however, their involvement with the project considerably reduced this anxiety.
- Service users increased their knowledge about where to access information and their confidence to speak about money issues.
- Service users felt more confident about managing their money and making appropriate financial decisions.
- The evaluation showed that the majority of participants used the tools and resources from Managing Chang£ to improve how they manage their money day-to-day.
- The evaluation demonstrated an improvement in the skills and knowledge of Money Champions:
- Money Champions were more confident speaking with service users regarding money issues or concerns, and felt that they could more easily access resources and signpost to services to address service users’ money concerns.
- Money Champions have been key to the success of Managing Chang£.
- They provided on-going access to information and support on a day-to-day basis for service users, enabling them to sustain positive behaviours.
- Almost 70% of service users felt that continuing to be supported by a Money Champion would help them better manage their money.
- However, the majority of Money Champions reflected that they would need further support from Advice NI and Inspire to continue in this role.
Points to consider
- Challenge to engage service users and maintain involvement throughout project lifetime
- Challenge to focus specifically on target group of service users aged 18-64
- Challenge to track impact and outcomes through further support or referrals
- Need for longer-term view to measure whether behaviour change is sustained
- Critical need for reasonable adjustments and sensitivity to service user needs
- Research needed to assess the impact of the intervention across the different types of settings for people experiencing chronic or acute mental health conditions.
Full report
Managing Chang£…What works? - full report
