Tips and Tools contains practical and concrete guidance and tools to help you evaluate a variety of services commonly provided to and with survivors, as well as Train the Trainer (TOT) workshops.
For help in explaining the Theory of Change guiding domestic violence services as well as these related outcomes and measures, please click here.
The first three sections of Tips and Tools focus on services and programs for survivors of domestic assault.
- Section 1 contains handouts that you can copy and distribute to your staff. These handouts were designed to help you and your colleagues decide for yourselves how, when, and how often to evaluate your services.
- Section 2 provides some examples of actual outcome evaluation surveys you might use or modify to evaluate different types of services.
- Section 3 includes several standardized (and validated) measures of quality of life, social support, hope, life satisfaction, and housing instability. You do not need to use these for program evaluation, but may find them useful if you have access to resources for a program evaluation and are working with a program evaluator to examine whether any of these outcomes occur for survivors using your services.
As many DV programs and coalitions use Train the Trainer (TOT) approaches, Section 4 provides tools that can be used to measure their effectiveness.
SECTION 1: TIPS FOR DESIGNING THE EVALUATION PROCESS
You can copy and use these handouts with staff to help you decide how, when, and how often to evaluate your services.
- Handout 1 – Creating a Plan with Staff for Collecting Outcome Data
- Handout 2 – Inviting Program Participants to Complete Program Evaluation Forms
- Handout 3 – Example Outcomes for Domestic Violence Programs
SECTION 2: SAMPLE OUTCOME EVALUATION TOOLS
These tools have all been created by or modified from surveys first developed by Dr. Cris Sullivan. Cris has worked with advocates and survivors for over 20 years to create and modify outcome evaluation surveys that are meaningful to programs and accepted by external funders. The brief surveys provided here focus on shelter, counseling, support groups and advocacy but many of the survey items could be used for other services. Please feel free to modify any of these tools as needed by your own program, including removing the headers and footers and replacing them with your program-specific information.
Cris thanks the numerous advocates, survivors and funders who contributed to the creation of these items over the years.
- Advocacy Feedback Form for Survivors of Domestic Violence [Word Version]
- Evaluation Form for Shelter Residents [Word Version]
- Individual Counseling Evaluation Form for Survivors of Domestic Violence [Word Version]
- Support Group Evaluation Form for Survivors of Domestic Violence [Word Version]
- Parenting Support Group Evaluation Form for Survivors of Domestic Violence [Word Version]
- Individual Counseling Evaluation Form for Survivors of Sexual Assault/Abuse [Word Version]
- Support Group Evaluation Form for Survivors of Sexual Assault/Abuse [Word Version]
SECTION 3: STANDARDIZED MEASURES RELATED TO THE THEORY OF CHANGE
Included here are several standardized (and validated) measures of quality of life, social support, hope, life satisfaction, and housing instability. You may find them useful if you have access to resources for a program evaluation and are working with a program evaluator to examine whether any of these outcomes occur for survivors using your services. These are NOT necessary for you to use in your basic program evaluation.
- Quality of Life Questionnaire
- Satisfaction with Life Scale
- Social Support Scale
- General Self Efficacy Scale
- Hope Index
- Measure of Victim Empowerment Related to Safety (MOVERS) Scales, see Full MOVERS Report
- Financial Worries Scale
- Housing Instability Index
- Trauma Informed Practice (TIP) Scales
SECTION 4: Tools to EVALUATE “TRAIN THE TRAINER” WORKSHOPS
For those who provide Train the Trainer (TOT) workshops on any topic, you may find these three documents useful. The first includes some tips and options for you to consider when you need to evaluate the effectiveness of your TOT workshop. The second and third provide you with templates for creating Pre-Workshop surveys and Post-Workshop surveys.
