Together with Hanna Kienzler from the Department of Social Science, Health and Medicine at King’s College London, the Mental Health team convened a number of workshops, between August 16- September 6, 2015, as part of the project “Evaluating a Multi-Family Approach intervention in the West Bank”. In partnership with the Palestinian Community and Rehabilitation (CBR) program, War Trauma Foundation from the Netherlands and Dr. Ricardo Araya from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, we aim to monitor and evaluate the adaptation, implementation, and scaling up of the Multiple Family Approach (MFA) by the CBR program to support women caretakers of people with disabilities in the West Bank.
Building on first research results collected through participant observation and informal interviews, this year’s workshops focused on data coding methods; training in and use of the qualitative coding software Atlas.ti; and creating a project evaluation plan and evaluation tools in line with the qualitative framework called Outcome Mapping. Over the next twelve months, a document analysis as well as a survey will be carried out, qualitative key informant interviews, and focus group discussions among all stakeholders involved in the project. The main goal of these workshops l is to gain in-depth insight into the lived reality of the MFA project by paying close attention to (1) the effectiveness of the adaptation, implementation and scaling up of the MFA approach from the perspective of CBR, the women’s support groups and War Trauma Foundation; (2) the ways in which the women’s support groups are organized by focusing on activities and actions, as well as their perceived usefulness in improving the wellbeing of women and their families; and (3) the changes in behaviours, relationships, activities and actions of CBR workers and members of the women’s support group since the introduction of the MFA approach. By monitoring and evaluating the project, our aim is to produce valuable knowledge useful for CBR workers, the women’s support groups, War Trauma Foundation, and possibly other organizations involved in community-based psychosocial support projects in Palestine and the wider region.