Evaluation - Leeds Intensive Positive Behaviour Support Service

We were commissioned to conduct an evaluation of the Intensive Positive Behaviour Support project.  

The purpose of the IPBS Service is to ensure those children in Leeds, with learning disabilities and/or autism with behaviours that challenge, and who are most at risk of permanent placement outside the home and outside of the city, live as normal a life as possible: staying with their family and in their community.

 The evaluation, developed in conjunction with stakeholders, aimed to collect and analyse quantitative and qualitative data to understand whether:

• Families and public services experience additional benefits from this approach compared with previous support
• Residential care is avoided
• Other outcomes are achieved, for example improving understanding and application of the IPBS framework to influence cultural change in the way other agencies think about pathways [see Annex 1 for the Theory of Change developed as part of the evaluation].

The evaluation informed decisions regarding the future of the approach and explored whether the project is value for money.

The evaluation combined a:

• Formative evaluation – focused on the relationships with stakeholders and the extent to which planned activities are carried out and perceived as effective.
• Summative evaluation – examined the outcomes and impact of the project with the aim of determining overall value for money.

We delivered a Theory of Change workshop (ToC) to explore the overall purpose, objectives and the interventions required to achieve a change and measured quantitative data at 5 and 11 months.

We also ran a series of focus groups (staff and wider stakeholders) and individual interviews with parents to gather qualitative data.