This section contains fundings, good practice guidance and case studies from the Impact and Good Practice Research Report, which is available to download as a PDF.
Triangle Consulting undertook a piece of research to find out the impact that using the Star had on for 25 organisations who had been using the Star for a year or more.
These 25 organisations were interviewed to find out how they had gone about it and what the impact of using the Star was on their service. Here is a summary of the findings.
Organisations experienced benefits in keywork, organisational learning and relationship with commissioners.
100% improved keywork using Star
Improvements included:
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More focus
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Increased client engagement
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More systematic and consistent
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More in-depth
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Shared language about the journey of change
"The Star helps staff focus on the agreed support plans so they don't get too entrenched in the day-to-day issues brought in by their clients and lose sight of the bigger picture… "
- Croftlands Trust
Most clients like the Star and it achieves these benefits because it:
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Focuses on the whole person, not the problem
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Is visual
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Makes progress visible
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Gives a sense of the journey
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Can open new areas of discussion
"The Star is helpful. It shows how far I have come. It is a very different shape now. It has helped to motivate me. It gives me a sense of direction – that I can do it. Seeing it visually helps, to see that I am changing, that things are happening, that there is a light at the end of the tunnel."
- St. Mungo’s hostel resident
Star data helps organisations learn what works
Only one-third of the 25 organisations interviewed had analysed Star data for a project or service. Even fewer had really used the data for learning about what works. The experience of those that had done so illustrates the wealth of learning possible and a missed opportunity.
"There has been a clear improvement for the majority of service users across all the Outcomes Star areas. It is interesting how this varies between services and analysis of the data has raised questions that we have looked into."
- Croftlands
Examples of learning include:
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63% of clients in a substance misuse service showed no improvement in meaningful use of time. Mangers encouraged workers to link more with day and other services
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Research into outcomes in hostels provided evidence of success, good practice and unmet need:
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62% of clients making positive progress plus11% stable
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Good practice - 92% improved in one hostel
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Women progress better in single sex situations
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Identifying effective ways of working with clients at different stages of the journey of change
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Evidence of links between areas, such as offending and drugs
The launch of the on-line version of the Outcomes Star and database will help overcome a key barrier to analysis of Star data and facilitate organisational learning.
Find out more about the
Outcomes Star System
Commissioners are positive about services using the Star
The majority of commissioners of the services interviewed were reported to be interested in services measuring outcomes and positive about the use of the Outcomes Star. However, very few were specifically requesting Star data.
The research showed little or no anxiety among organisations using the Outcomes Star about the move to National Indicators within Local Area Agreements. Those who were familiar with the NIs locally were confident they could provide the data.
"I have always felt under some pressure to demonstrate that what we do works… Now we can."
"Outcomes have always been talked about but not really been scrutinised – that scrutiny is coming and we are ready for it. "
Case studies
including benefits of using Outcomes Star