With our partners Ipsos MORI, Coram is carrying out an evaluation of a Blue Cabin model of Creative Life Story Work. We have published plans for a randomised controlled trial plus process evaluation (interviews and survey), funded by What Works for Children’s Social Care, of the implementation of the programme in Darlington, Gateshead and South Tyneside councils.
Summary
The Blue Cabin model of Creative Life Story Work (CLSW) will be implemented in Darlington, Gateshead and South Tyneside from April 2021. CLSW Tier 1: All About Me creative experiences aims to benefit 270 looked-after children and young people aged 5 to 17, through six 90-minute sessions in small groups over the course of 6 weeks to understand their past and present. There are three elements to its evaluation: a randomised controlled trial (RCT) of the impact of the creative experiences on child outcomes (‘did it work?’), a process evaluation (‘if so, why did it work?’) to gather in depth experiences of those taking part in creative experiences, and a cost analysis of the whole CLSW programme (‘how much did it cost?’). The evaluation will take place over the course of 2021-22 with an administrative data request in April 2022, and publication of the final report later in June 2022.