Keeping it going
Prioritising work with fathers is in the early stages in many organisations. This means it is really important to set time aside during an ongoing piece of work, or when a time-limited piece of work finishes, to evaluate what has gone well and not so well.
This is important because it:
- Provides opportunities for staff, partners and dads to celebrate success
- Provides a means for dads to feedback their experiences and ideas and have a stake in future developments
- Helps consolidate successful work with dads and improve areas that were less successful
- Helps to demonstrate the success and benefits of working with dads to senior managers and decision makers
- Supports the planning of new work and improved chance of success
- Builds confidence in working with dads which can lead to new ideas for engaging dads to be developed. It can also build confidence in targeting groups that are hard to reach
- Contributes to a bank of knowledge and experience that can be shared to encourage others to develop work with dads
It is useful to record some information while the group is running. This does not involve preparing in-depth reports. Examples of simple forms used by Warrington Real Men Read are quick to complete but provide a valuable record of each session.
The information you should consider gathering could include:
- The numbers of attendees (both children and dads or other carers)
- How the dads came to hear about the group
- Informal feedback from dads about each session
- Asking dads to fill in short evaluation forms
- Keeping a record of activities or books that were popular
- Staff observations of the sessions and any benefits for fathers and children
- Video or Photographic evidence
It is also useful to seek more formal feedback periodically for an ongoing group or at the end of a time-limited group: This can be done by:
- Asking dads to fill in questionnaires or conducting short structured interviews
- Seeking dads' views on what they enjoyed most and least and what the benefits of attending have been
- Asking for suggestions for future activities or groups targeted at dads
- Finding out what mums think
- Seeking feedback from partners
Dads get involved - Video
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“Row, row, row your boat”
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“Here we go round the Mulberry Bush”
See examples
Examples of consultation and feedback questionnaires following an event can be found in the Giving it a go section. The following are examples of simple recording templates used by Warrington Real Men Read.