Resource Library

7. Best Practices

"What worked?" Thirty-seven reports identified aspects of their projects that they regarded as positive accomplishments. For the most part these successes were process-oriented, although some projects listed outputs/products that they felt had worked well.

7.1 Process

Responses in this category fell broadly into two groupings:

• factors that helped smooth the way for project organizers (administrative tools, approaches and mechanisms, etc);
• factors that contributed to project success mainly from a client perspective (content/format, client-sensitive setting, delivery mode, etc).

It should be noted that a factor that is helpful to clients may also smooth the way for project organizers, but it may not. The groupings below seek to show where the positive effect of any given practice/approach was principally experienced - i.e., at the organizer or the client level.

Factors that mainly helped to smooth the way for project organizers included:

• collaboration (e.g., team-building, committee approach, use of pre-existing community connections, the range of community partners involved);
• the participation of a wide variety of stakeholders in project advisory committees (e.g., corrections personnel);
• partnerships (e.g., the partnership between one project group and a provincial pharmacists' association improved the quality of the resource, boosted its distribution and enabled the project to go province-wide);
• peer involvement;
• use of a whole-person approach;
• physician participation in educational sessions (e.g., gastroenterologists and hepatologists, leading to increased attendance);
• newspaper advertisements, which, although sometimes costly, generated calls for information;
• press articles and the use of media interviews to raise awareness;
• preliminary meetings held with prison inmates (which promoted the project and facilitated inmates' involvement in developing educational tools/strategies);
• [an NGO's] prior knowledge and experience of inmate culture and prison issues (which aided in developing a successful strategy for client involvement - in this instance, a tattoo art contest);
• the ability of an outreach staff team to engender trust among clients and make positive connections;
• a harm-reduction approach (with street populations);
• reaching out to priority populations in a discreet low-profile manner (reducing clients' fear of stigma);
• the supportive attitude of an NGO Board of Directors to the needs of a youth theatre troupe (attending rehearsals, listening to the youth and ensuring that board policy decisions reflected the needs they expressed);
• ongoing professional development for paid and volunteer staff (attendance at conferences, courses, workshops) as a means of strengthening project capacity;
• a flexible approach to programming (enabling opportunities to be fully exploited);
• the solicitation of regular community feedback (allowing projects to stay responsive to changing community needs).

Factors that contributed to project success more from a client standpoint included:

• participation by spouses/companions in a weekend conference (and funding their transport, meals and accommodation);
• individualized approaches (including private meetings and telephone contact, which allowed clients to steer the meeting and "unload" their personal worries and concerns);
• suppers and film discussions, which were enjoyed by youth;
• the understanding of clients' circumstances (as demonstrated by the use of a film character with whom they could readily identify);
• the hiring of a hepatitis C-infected project coordinator who could share her own personal experiences with others;
• the provision of an informal anonymous comment book for use by community groups (which led to the expansion/development of resources to include hepatitis C, co-infection and needle-use issues).

7.2 Products

Project reports also pointed to various outputs that were well received by various client populations. These included:

• skits presented by youth for youth in Atlantic Canada (gauged by the subsequent requests for performances received from local high schools);
• a game show-like tool that peer health educators in Vancouver used for education/harm reduction purposes. It reportedly helped peers to both stay on top of developments in youth sexual health and assess the information needs of specific groups of youth;
• a pamphlet produced for the injection drug-using population (prescription and non-prescription), acclaimed for its clarity, accuracy and attractive lay-out;
• "prevention kits" and other educational resources used to educate and raise hepatitis C awareness among inmates in a Quebec detention centre.

7.3 Documenting and Sharing

As more projects are completed, it will be useful to examine successful processes and products in order to identify common elements and determine whether they can be adapted to other settings/audiences. Meanwhile, project organizers are being encouraged to carefully document their projects, including any factors that may have influenced their outcomes, and to share useful information with the wider hepatitis C community.

With this in mind, in 2001 a number of community groups were invited to make presentations on their projects at a session on " Innovative Community Projects" at the 1^st Canadian Conference on Hepatitis C in Montreal. The conference provided an opportunity to publicize the efforts and accomplishments of the many groups who provide hepatitis C prevention, education and support services to communities across the country. This proved to be an effective and popular means of disseminating information about models and tools and several presenters reported that their work had generated considerable interest. Groups should be encouraged to continue this kind of dialogue, which enables them to exchange experiences, borrow ideas and approaches, and openly explore what went right or wrong.

[Previous] [Table of Contents] [Next]