Q1. When should we give the survey to clients?
What do you mean by “at the conclusion of service delivery?"
A1. You should give surveys to clients at the conclusion of service, each day they receive a service. The thinking is that we are interested in the most recent, accurate feedback; that usually occurs the closer the review is to the service. This will also allow for more direct feedback on specific services and service delivery. In addition, it is often not very clear that this will be the last time you see a client or that this is the last time you will provide crisis intervention, or legal advocacy. Things have a way of coming up…and coming up again….and again. This way, we will capture all that good work as it is happening. We do suggest that you try to avoid “bombarding” a client with surveys, but we also suspect clients will be pretty good at saying they do or do not want to fill one out that day.
Q2. Will our agency receive feedback about our client responses to the survey?
A2. We are very pleased that agencies are interested in specific feedback about the services provided by their staff and/or volunteers. However, given the circumstances of rolling out this first effort at universal outcomes, we are currently not identifying feedback by specific agencies. We do expect, though, that this will be an important topic of discussion when we pull together an advisory/work group to finalize the questions and process.
Q3. How will the surveys be differentiated amongst programs? For example, how will you know which are DV legal advocacy response and which are SA legal advocacy responses?
A3. For ease of administration and for a universal confirmation of the value and quality of advocacy services, it does not matter at this point if it is a DV or SA legal advocacy response. As the work becomes more refined, we will want to see the differences between and among services, agencies, crimes, staff, etc. We had conversation about this issue at OCVA, as well, and imagine that it will come up again when the advisory/work group comes together.
Q4. How do you define advocacy?
A4. Each program administered by OCVA and using Infonet has service definitions. While the domestic violence service definitions are recognized to be “place holders,” they are the ones being used for Infonet and thus for services. The sexual assault program has had service definitions in place for some time. The crime victim service centers have just completed their process of recommending service definitions and they will be finalized very soon. Attached at the end of this document are the respective service definitions. As they apply for contracted services and Infonet, they apply here.
Q5. Does advocacy include support group participants?
No. We are looking at a somewhat “tighter” definition of advocacy. Those services are information, referral, crisis intervention, legal advocacy, medical advocacy, general advocacy. Thus, the questions were designed with the outcomes of these services specifically in mind. They do not necessarily line up with support group goals at all.
Please note that depending on whether you are in a DV, SA, or Crime Victim Service Center, you may have slightly different names for the services or slightly different wording in the definitions.
Q6. What about youth or any age limitations?
A6. The survey is not to be given to anyone under the age of 13. However, it is appropriate and useful to give the survey to parents or guardians of children whose children are clients. It is also appropriate for the parents of those children to fill out the survey, as they are often the direct recipients of advocacy services – on behalf of their children who were victimized.
For teens 13 or older, you can give them a survey. Most teens we know are pretty capable of telling you how well they thought they were served. In addition, parents of teens who have been victimized should be given surveys, as they too, have an important perspective.