Advanced Health and Wellbeing Training Programme Evaluation: A report on a qualitative evaluation of an Advanced Health and Wellbeing Training Programme delivered by Leeds City Council's Wider Workforce Development Team.

This report provides an overview of the qualitative evaluation of the Advanced Health and Wellbeing Training Programme that has been delivered by Leeds City Council’s Wider Workforce Development Team for over seven years now. In February and March 2017, a series of four sixty minute focus-group discussions were conducted, using past and present participants of the Advanced Health and Wellbeing Training Programme. A total of nineteen practitioners from various industry sectors, contributed towards the discussions held.

The aims of the evaluation were to identify the impact of the Advanced Health and Wellbeing Training Programme to inform future programme development.

Participants were recruited via the Workforce Development Team’s former/current student email distribution list and the focus groups were delivered on premises familiar to participants; were independent from the programme delivery team; used academic expertise in conducting evaluations; and used qualitative methods and thematic analysis.
Key Findings
The programme has enhanced practitioner confidence and collaborative practice.
The wider array of professions which partake in the training is clearly valued by the practitioners, as it enhanced their knowledge of the wider public health workforce and gives greater opportunities for collaboration. The report has provided case study examples where practitioners discussed projects or collaborations which arose as a direct consequence of their engagement with the programme. The practitioners identified that their confidence to take a greater role in leading projects, and conducting needs assessments had been enhanced by the programme.
The opportunity for networking is perceived to be highly beneficial
The opportunity for networking is presented as highly beneficial to the practitioners. Some nice examples have been highlighted where this has seemingly led to effective problem solving and/or practice enhancement
There is an apparent desire for further networking after the programme has finished and for resources to be shared through some form of electronic forum, for example.
The opportunity to network and to develop an appreciation of the different services within public health was repeatedly suggested as being a key strength of the programme
The programme is contributing towards upskilling the wider public health workforce
Many of the participants identified that as a result of completing the programme, they had gone on to further advanced training in public health, such as MSc’s.
Whilst a number of practitioners queried whether any tangible impact in the community could actually be ‘measured’ as a direct result of the programme, all were happy to acknowledge that it had helped develop their own practices in a beneficial manner.

Work commitments and workload sometimes impact negatively
Some participants reported that the variability of their work commitments made it difficult to complete the programme in the time available, or made it difficult to find time to reflect on their learning.
The varied nature of participants meant that the knowledge and skills embedded in the programme did not always meet needs equitably
With regards to the content of the programme, some participants reported that the data analysis sessions made a positive contribution to their knowledge, but others reported that the information was too condensed and rushed. The wide range of backgrounds of participants do mean that finding a good balance on the depth of information is difficult.