We've had a great start to the year with MYCaW® (Measure Yourself Concerns and Well-Being®) being mentioned in a study published this month 'Exploration of Evaluation Practices in Social Prescribing Services in Ireland: A Cross-Sectional Observational Study' (2024) by Connolly et al.

This study aimed to examine the evaluation practices of social prescribing services on the island of Ireland. Specifically, they examined what outcomes were currently being evaluated by social prescribing services, how outcomes were measured, and barriers and facilitators to evaluation.

The researchers identified a need for national consensus on outcome measures to allow for research and evaluation but also a need for flexibility. They highlighted MYCaW® as a measure that could 'possibly provide uniformity in data collected nationally but still facilitate differences across services'. A 2022 study (Elliot et al.) showed that MYCaW® is widely used in social prescribing services in other countries, but in this Ireland-based study, only three respondents identified using this measure.

MYCaW® is an individualised questionnaire designed for evaluating holistic and personalised approaches to supporting people. It only takes a few minutes to complete and can routinely be incorporated into a consultation to understand and prioritise what a person most wants support with. MYCaW® allows a more rigorous approach to capturing the voice of service users beyond the anecdotal.

Each person writes down the thing that most concerns them, that they want help with, in a box. MYCaW® can record two main concerns in total. The concerns are rated for severity using a simple numerical Likert scale and a person's wellbeing is also scored.

We are continuing to work with colleagues across the globe to add new translations for both MYCaW® and MYMOP® as well as providing licences so we look forward to working with more providers in their bid to gather valuable data.

You can find out more about MYCaW® which is available as a paper-based version and in our digital portal here. 

References

Connolly H, Delimata N, Galway K, Kiely B, Lawler M, Mulholland J, O'Grady M, Connolly D. Exploration of Evaluation Practices in Social Prescribing Services in Ireland: A Cross-Sectional Observational Study. Healthcare. 2024; 12(2):219. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare12020219

Elliott M, Davies M, Davies J, Wallace C. Exploring how and why social prescribing evaluations work: a realist review. BMJ Open. 2022 Apr 5;12(4):e057009. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-057009. PMID: 35383075; PMCID: PMC8984010.