Ripple Effect Mapping
Posted: Fri, 21 Oct 2022 15:00
In collaboration with the University of Bristol the research team on our Sport England local delivery pilot, JU:MP, have produced a number of training videos about the evaluation method, Ripple Effect Mapping (REM). They're all online and are free for everyone to access.
Dr Jennifer Hall, our Born in Bradford lead researcher on process evaluation has been using the method to help evaluate work across the programme. REM is particularly useful to use on complex interventions when change or impact is difficult to show, which is one of the reasons why it's being used within JU:MP. Dr Hall gives us a brief overview as to how it's being used over the different workstreams:
To evaluate the impact of the neighbourhood work
REM is being used within the neighbourhood action group meetings, on a 6 monthly basis, to understand progress and impact of implementing the neighbourhood action plans and wider work happening at a neighbourhood level. It allows the action group members to see what they have achieved, what is working well and less well, and decide what to continue doing (more of) and what to potentially stop doing, moving forwards.
For this evaluation, it will allow us to understand how neighbourhoods have implemented JU:MP in different ways and the different impacts this has led to.
The photo above shows a neighbourhood action group using REM.
As part of the JU:MP Leads project
Workshops will be taking place involving the JU:MP leads themselves and the consortium of organisations involved in training and supporting the JU:MP leads, every 3 months over the course of the year project. It will allow us to capture the different training and other opportunities the JU:MP leads have been exposed to, and the varied and different ways that this has impacted on themselves, friends and family, and the wider community.
Samantha Siddique talks to camera about how REM was used when they ran the first round of the JU:MP leads programme in 2021: youtu.be/zb2OPy5xVwY
As part of the Creating Active Schools workstream
REM is being implemented within every JU:MP school on a 6-monthly basis. Facilitated by PhD student Zoe Helme, it gives the schools 'time out' to reflect on what they have achieved and the impact this has had, and to plan for the ongoing delivery of the creating active schools workstream. The REM outputs from across the schools will be consolidated which will also allow comparison of how schools have implemented the CAS framework in different ways and the different impacts this has led to.
To develop the physical activity strategy
REM is being used with the physical activity strategy group who lead the work around embedding physical activity into policy and strategy. It allows the group to reflect on progress against their aims and ambitions, and to capture the range of intended and unintended impacts of this often quite intangible work, across the system. Repeating the mapping every 6 months gives an opportunity to see how the progress and impacts of this work build up over time.
Want to know more?
Earlier on in the year, Jen and Dr James Noble (University of Bristol) published a blog post in the BMC Blog Series to explain how and why it has been the developed the way it has for use on complex public health interventions. You can read it here.
Training
The online training, led by Dr Jen Hall and Dr James Noble, covers:
- What REM is, why it is beneficial, and when it can be used
- How to run an REM workshop
- How to make sense of, and analyse, the outputs from these REM workshops
There are three pre-recorded sessions to listen to, each between 10-25 minutes in duration, which includes some short reflections from our partners who have used REM in practice.
Access the free training here.
The full research paper can be accessed here.