Evaluations Into Peer Advice
Peer Advisor Network Interim Evaluation
Date: 2021
Evaluated by: Revolving Doors Agency
Methodology:
- In the first year of the evaluation, we focused on the experiences at three Peer Hubs: in the Midlands, Yorkshire and North Wales We also held a focus group with Peer Advisors in London.
- In the second year of the evaluation, we have focused on the experiences at two other delivery locations: Scotland and London. We also conducted research with organisations with expertise in topics including Peer Support, lived experience involvement and systems change - that were not part of PAN (hereafter referred to as stakeholders), and obtained feedback from clients who received support in Yorkshire, London, Scotland and North Wales.
- In addition, we ran three separate surveys for Peer Advisors, St Giles staff and partner organisations at two points in time, in Summer 2020 and Summer 2021, and reviewed key statistics from data about programme progress and outcomes and incorporated key statistics into the findings. This data was triangulated with the qualitative data to provide a greater understanding of responses and different experiences.
- Lastly, we held two co-production workshops where key findings were tested and validated by a group of Peer Advisors and peer researchers prior to each interim report being finalised. More detail on the evaluation methodology can be found in Appendix 1.
Project outline:
The interim evaluation was carried out by national charity Revolving Doors between April 2019 and November 2021. It examined the Peer Advisor Network delivered through our network of National Lottery Community Fund supported Peer Hubs. These train people from disadvantaged backgrounds to become professionally qualified Peer Advisors who go on to support others in their local communities through placements with partner agencies
Key outcomes:
- Employment successes: 97/222 Peer Advisors (44%) have moved into paid employment
- Hosting organisations: 105 organisations have hosted placements (embedding lived experience in their service delivery)
- 55% of 2021 Partner Survey respondents said they were now more open to working with people with lived experience – e.g. through recruiting more volunteers and staff with lived experience
- 88% of Peer Advisors agreed being a peer advisor had improved their confidence
- 95% of Partner Agency respondents felt that their clients had improved personal circumstances and outcomes because of input of Peer Advisors with lived experience.