Evaluating the impact of Beat’s support for carers
Beat, the UK’s eating disorder charity, commissioned Fiveways to evaluate the range of support it offered to parents and carers via its 16-week “Keystone” service (online workshops, one to one coaching with a trained Beat advisor, peer support groups, and an online platform providing education, peer support and focussed information).
The aim of the service was to increase carers’ understanding of factors and skills that can aid their loved one’s recovery, build their emotional ability to support their loved one, and improve relationships between people with eating disorders and their carers.
“I have worked with Fiveways on several evaluation projects, and I’ve always been extremely happy with the results. Their approach to evaluation is always professional, collaborative, flexible and customer focused. They work with integrity, are very organised, patient, and reliable. I would recommend Fiveways to any charity considering a service evaluation. In these very challenging times where funding is scarcer, being evidence based in your development and design of services is an absolute necessity.”
Our evaluation included
To generate the required insight we delivered a longitudinal approach with carers including:
- Initial interviews with carers before the start of the support, followed by two further interviews during and towards the end of the support.
- Support for carers (e.g. suggested tasks) to provide a weekly journal of their experiences throughout the 16 weeks.
- Surveys and written feedback opportunities to support loved ones to give their perspective (when the carer felt it was appropriate).
Our evaluation revealed
- Carers developed a different perspective of their loved one’s eating disorder. Carers felt supported to build empathy, separate the eating disorder from their loved one, and accept that positive change is not linear – setbacks happen and can often be positive.
- The peer support element of Keystone made a positive difference to carers’ wellbeing and resilience, most felt their emotional ability to support their loved one had increased. 57% of participants reported their symptoms of depression becoming less severe.
- 82% of carers felt their relationship with their loved one had improved over the course of the service, reporting increased trust, openness and collaboration, as well as improved conversations with their loved one.