Contents | 1. Introduction | 2. Steps | 3. Practicalities | 4. Examples | 5. Client questionnaires
6. Standardized tools | 7. On-line surveys | 8. Checklists | 9. Resources

Purpose?

There are many purposes for client questionnaires, for example:

• Gathering registration information
• Gathering referral and assessment information
• Describing the service process
• Monitoring change in clients over time
• Gathering feedback about the service or program.

Often these questionnaires are designed in house. Sometimes the questionnaires are standardised tools that have been used widely by others. Sometimes client questionnaires are a mix of in house questions and questions used by others.

Questions to ask

Key questions to ask in relation to client questionnaires:

• What is the purpose of gathering the information?
• What will be the impact of the questionnaire on the client?
• What will be the impact on the service process?
• How will the data be kept private/ confidential?
• How will the individual client data be used?
• How will the collated data be analysed?
• How will the collated data be used?                                                                                                                                                                                                              

Examples of family support client questionnaires

The following questionnaires were developed as part of a process of thinking about how to measure outcomes in family support services. While the process requires further development the tools may be useful to others working with families.

Family support services are diverse. There is no one set of tools that all family support services could use and adopt.

These tools have been developed on the basis that they will be used and modified by individual family support services to meet their needs. They have been developed on the following principles:

• The tool will be holistic
• The tool will be designed to monitor changes in individual clients and their circumstances - the point of comparison will be the client not a population standard
• The data from using the tool will also be able to show changes in groups of clients (eg clients participating in a new service model)
• The client should be involved in using the tools and reflecting on the information gathered.

Further background on Measuring outcomes in family support: Practitioners' guide

The tools

The tools are in three documents:

Family workers: Tools 1 to 4
Family workers research: Tools 5 and 6
Family workers exploring topics: Tool 7

Family Workers: Tools 1 to 4

There are four tools that can be used in family support services in the service delivery process and modified as required:

Tool 1 Snapshot of Life - Client’s picture
This can be used early in service delivery, later in service delivery and on completion.

Tool 2 Snapshot of life - Worker’s picture
This can be used early in service delivery, later in service delivery and on completion.

Tool 3 Goals - Joint client and worker picture
This can be used jointly by the client and the worker during service delivery

Tool 4 Service facts and figures
This is data gathered about the client (eg age, gender, type of family) and services provided (eg amount and frequency of service).

These tools help paint a picture of the client's situation, the services provided and the changes taking place in the client and their situation over time.

They can be used with individual clients. The results can also be collated and analysed to review groups of clients, eg, all the clients in a family support service.

Download Family Workers: Tools 1 to 4 (310k)

Family workers research: Tools 5 and 6

There are two tools that are longer versions of the material in Tools 1 to 4. They are more likely to be used in research projects or in services that have a research focus:

Tool 5 Snapshot of life (Long Version)
This can be used early in service delivery, later in service delivery and on completion. The data is much more detailed than Tool 1.

Tool 6 Service facts and figures (Long Version)
This is data gathered about the client (eg age, gender, type of family) and services provided (eg amount and frequency of service). The data is more detailed than Tool 4.

Download Family worker research: Tools 5 and 6 (350k)

Family workers exploring topics: Tool 7

Tool 7 includes topic tools which can be used to explore specific topics in service delivery or research:

Tool 7

Topic 1 - Social capital
Topic 2 - Life's practicalities
Topic 3 - Life experiences and outlook
Topic 4 - Feelings about parenting
Topic 5 - Relationship with spouse
Topic 6 - Storybook reading
Topic 7 - Children
Topic 8 - Practical parenting
Topic 9 - Building strengths
Topic 10 - Significant life events
Topic 11 - Stress
Topic 12 - Participation in community organisations
Topic 13 - Information
Topic 14 - Beliefs about others
Topic 15 - Young person's experience (12 year old or older)
Topic 16 - Groups
Topic 17 - Family worker services

These tools could be used is a service wishes to explore a particular topic with a group of clients.

Download Family workers exploring topics: Tool 7 (310k)