What did we do and why?
The WA Department of Health has partnered with Injury Matters to deliver the Know Injury program, providing networking, training, and development opportunities to support the prevention of injury in WA. As you may be aware, activities and resources delivered through three elements of Know, Learn and Connect.
As part of the ongoing evaluation of the Know Injury program, impact measurement was completed by Edith Cowan University with Know Injury participants via focus groups in 2022 and an online survey in 2023. Measuring the benefits of a program of this nature can be difficult; feedback from users is one component of understanding program effectiveness.
What did we find?
Few of the 130+ participants described their role as injury prevention, despite all having participated in a Know Injury activity. Instead, they described having a focus on specific risk factors (e.g. alcohol), chronic disease prevention and other public health issues. Participants in the focus groups described their work as supporting healthy and safe communities, including references to ageing, school leavers and promoting healthy lifestyles. There is an increasing presence of addressing intentional injuries, including violence and self-harm.
The results showed there was strong agreement on the importance of injury prevention and safety promotion from most participants. There was also a general appreciation of being able to access events online, particularly from rural/regional areas where it can be difficult to attend events in-person. Participants report the resources are comprehensive and well utilised, especially favouring the eNews and the website. The current delivery formats of events, with a combination of webinars and face-to-face events were also noted to suit participants, who appreciate both flexibility in attendance and opportunities for face-to-face discussion.
Respondents stated they are more likely to be able to apply resources when they include detailed application, with examples and case studies of how the resource has been adapted and applied by similar users. Such resources can help practitioners better navigate through the systems in which they work and together with local statistics, could also help with prioritisation of injury prevention into broader health planning.
Participants acknowledged the Injury Matters team, who are valued for their collaborative partnership approach when supporting the sector. Comparison of the 2023 results to an equivalent evaluation conducted in 2021 showed many consistently good results, suggesting Injury Matters continue to deliver a high-quality program.
WA is uniquely positioned with injury prevention as a priority within its Health Promotion Strategic Framework and Know Injury’s provision of resources to support the injury prevention workforce. The Know Injury program is well regarded, particularly among the health promotion community. Recommendations were made in respect to the workforce, priority areas and knowledge transfer, with the intention of further strengthening program participation.
What happens next?
The findings and recommendations have been shared with Injury Matters who will now consider how to integrate the feedback into their short and long-term planning. You will hear more about this from Injury Matters later in the year.
I hope you enjoyed this snapshot of the evaluation findings. If you have any further questions, you can contact me at the email address below.
Dr Lauren Fortington, Senior Research Fellow
School of Medical and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University
[email protected]