HOPE implementation evaluation toolkit
Setting the stage: Why evaluation matters
The HOPE framework promotes positive childhood experiences
The Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences (HOPE) framework, developed by the HOPE National Resource Center, puts the science of positive childhood experiences (PCEs) into action. The HOPE framework focuses on promoting equitable access to the key types of PCEs that have been shown to have the biggest impact on health and wellbeing. We call these key PCE the Four Building Blocks of HOPE:
- Safe and stable relationships with peers, adults, and caregivers
- Safe environments to live, learn, and play where children have access to their basic needs and are emotionally and physically safe
- Social and civic engagement to develop a sense of belonging and mattering
- Opportunities for emotional growth.
The emerging research on positive childhood experiences
Research demonstrating the power of positive childhood experiences (PCEs) has been growing since researchers published the results of the Wisconsin Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey Study in 2019. Since then, multiple states, including Montana, Tennessee, South Carolina, Kansas, Michigan, and California, have replicated and expanded on findings showing that the more PCEs an individual has, the better their adolescent and adult health and wellbeing. PCEs are inversely correlated with substance use, mental health diagnoses, and chronic conditions including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, diabetes, and heart disease. This means that the more PCEs someone can recall, the lower their risk of these outcomes. Additionally, the more PCEs someone can recall, the more likely they are to have a college degree and earn more than $50,000 per year. The science behind the power of PCEs exists and is growing every day.
HOPE framework promotes PCEs and benefits organizations
The HOPE National Resource Center has heard from organizations implementing the HOPE framework that in addition to expanding access to positive positive childhood experiences (PCEs), organizations are noticing other benefits from utilizing the framework. Staff retention and job satisfaction increase in agencies implementing the HOPE framework. Families stay engaged in care longer, follow through with referrals at higher rates, and report better relationships with the providers and/or staff members. HOPE implementation seems to create conditions for thriving, even in the short-term. Many of these results, however, have been anecdotal.
As the HOPE framework continues to gain traction across sectors and systems that serve children and families, we want momentum and enthusiasm to be matched by evidence that shows how principles of the HOPE framework translate into measurable improvements. In other words, now is the time to start showing the short-term impacts of the HOPE framework with data.
HOPE is a flexible and adaptable framework
Since HOPE is an adaptable framework, implementation – and therefore, evaluation – will look different from sector to sector and organization to organization.
For example, the way an elementary school implements HOPE will likely look very different from how a pediatric primary care clinic or child welfare department might implement. The short-term outcomes that motivate an organization to implement the HOPE framework vary too, from increasing school attendance to reducing substance use to achieving family reunification.
The HOPE National Resource Center knew HOPE evaluation methods needed to be as flexible and adaptable as the HOPE framework itself while feeling helpful, not burdensome, to staff, children, and families.
Introducing the evaluation strategy: A Quality Improvement approach
Why a QI approach?
The HOPE National Resource Center chose to adopt a quality improvement (QI) approach to evaluation because it can measure impact from adaptable frameworks like HOPE. QI involves collecting and analyzing data to improve the quality of what you have chosen to implement. With a QI approach, organizations can analyze their specific HOPE implementation project’s impact within their local context and tailor it as needed.
This approach has been successfully used to evaluate other flexible frameworks, such as Project DULCE (Developmental Understanding and Legal Collaboration for Everyone) and supports accountability, growth, and evaluation of impact throughout implementation.
We also believe that a QI approach to HOPE implementation evaluation will:
- Provide shared expectations for evaluation of HOPE implementation
- Offer a range of evaluation tools
- Guide implementers on ways to integrate qualitative (stories) and quantitative (numbers) data to tell a clear story of the impact of HOPE implementation
- Center equity and relevance to the diverse communities implementing HOPE
- Build collective knowledge around the impact of the HOPE framework
HOPE framework Core Components
The HOPE framework Core Components represent the minimum expectations for a project to be considered HOPE implementation.
Core areas include:
- Internal Culture: Aligning leadership, decision-making, physical and virtual environments, and work culture with the HOPE framework
- Equity Advancement: Assessing access to the Four Building Blocks of HOPE and then creating policies and practices that reduce barriers and increase accessibility to PCEs; and then creating policies and practices that reduce barriers and increase accessibility to PCEs;
- Policies: Applying HOPEful principles in organizational documents and policies;
- Intakes: Incorporating HOPEful principles in intake forms and processes, potentially also including case planning;
- Screenings/Assessments: Designing screening and assessment forms and processes using HOPEful principles;
- Referrals: Incorporating HOPEful principles into the development of referral and warm handoff processes;
- Program Development: Developing programming specifically intended to promote access to the Four Building Blocks of HOPE.
You can sign up a staff member(s) for our HOPE Champion Certification program or find a local HOPE Champion near you.
Outcome domains include:
- Access to PCEs in the short term: assessing access to the Four Building Blocks of HOIPE at multiple times
- Provider–family relationships: e.g., satisfaction with and/or quality of relationship
- Family/child outcomes: e.g., retention rates, out-of-home placements, referral follow-through, attendance, school referrals, mental health symptoms, physical health symptoms
- Staff outcomes: e.g., job satisfaction, burnout rates, staff retention, staff turnover
What you’ll find in this evaluation toolkit
In the pages that follow, this toolkit walks through each step of evaluating the impact of the HOPE framework using a QI process in a clear, practical sequence. There are nine steps, with each section designed to stand on its own while also connecting back to the larger improvement process. Depending on where you are at in your implementation of the HOPE framework, you may find that you have already completed some of the steps.