Good data the key to effective community programs

By Karen Cook

A third-year nursing student is working with staff at the Calgary Urban Project Society (CUPS) One World Child Development Centre on a database project that will help staff to better analyze—and thus improve—their programs.

Meaghan Dykema, an undergraduate nursing student, will combine one research and two administrative datasets. Utilizing a new database system designed for community agencies by the Canadian Outcomes Research Institute, the project will combine CUPS One World administrative data with archived research data for about 100 preschool children and their families that CUPS One World has assisted since it opened in 2002. This will result in increased ability to report their own outcomes and implement positive program changes.

“The people at CUPS have a real commitment to providing an environment of positive change and that’s part of the reason they’ve switched to this new database,” says Dykema. “It will push them to be more outcome-oriented, analyzing the effectiveness of their programs and adjusting them accordingly.”

In addition to finding an efficient way to enter both archived and new data into the system, Dykema is also developing a “point and click” manual to help staff manoeuvre their way through the new database. For Dykema, a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Health Professional student researcher, the project offers her the opportunity to learn the challenges and rewards of engaging in cutting-edge research in a community setting.

Designed as a multiple intervention program, CUPS One World aims to provide a safe, supportive and stable environment for preschool children and their families while addressing the effects of poverty. It offers education, nutritious lunches and snacks, and transportation to and from the centre for about 50 children and their caregivers. It also provides parenting education and family support, including home visits and referrals for shelter, food and other resources.

The summer database project is supervised by Dr. Karen Benzies, a researcher with CUPS One World for five years and an associate professor in the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Calgary. She is also author and lead researcher of the study “The CUPS One World Child Development Centre: A multiple intervention preschool program for children living in extreme poverty.”

“We’ve collected and managed data and generated reports,” she says. “Now we are building research and evaluation capacity at CUPS One World—we’re basically ‘backfilling’ their new database with our previously collected research data so that they can show outcomes for all children and families who have ever attended CUPS One World without having to depend on the researchers.”

For example, Benzies’s research showed that after just 10 months in the preschool program, children improve their receptive vocabulary—where spoken words are matched to pictures—and score just above average relative to other Canadian children. “The results also showed that caregivers experienced positive changes such as slightly less stress associated with being a parent, decreased risks for child maltreatment and improved self-esteem,” she says.

With the new capacity added to the CUPS database, staff can continue to generate similar reports and fine tune their programming to improve outcomes.

Later this year, preliminary results will be available from the first group of CUPS One World preschool children to reach seven years of age and will measure whether their early success extends into elementary school. Benzies is confident the new database will be able to incorporate these results and give much-needed evidence to the value of such early intervention programs.

For more information on CUPS One World, visit www.cupshealthcentre.com/oneworld.htm.