Generate self-assessment reports and analyse the data.
When you conduct an assessment of your service, it can help you:
- identify whether your service aligns with a best practice model
- ascertain whether your service is ready to make changes needed to align with the Trauma-informed Care in Mental Health Services Across NSW – A Framework for Change (PDF 510.8 KB) (the framework) or implement a completely new service
- identify where can resources be directed from to inform this change.
Once staff have completed the self-assessment, you will be able to access the reports.
The reports are accessed through QARS. These will only be accessible to the person who sent out the self-assessment.
Note: The reports are internal to your service and will not be accessible by other local health districts or the Agency of Clinical innovation (ACI). These self-assessments are designed for internal evaluation of your mental health services and staff.
How to access self-assessment reports
 | The results of your survey can be viewed by clicking on the Results/Report icon in QARS. You will be able view the number of responses, individual responses, a response summary and a summary report. |
 | More information on generating reports can be found in the QARS user manual. This can be accessed via the Help icon on the Survey homepage. |
What to do with the information
Once you have generated reports and assessed the data, you will be able to determine areas of strength and those that need additional support.
It is useful to correlate the responses to undertake a gap analysis, set priorities for improvement, and develop measures for sustainability. It may be useful to undertake these processes with your working group.
You will then be able to use this information to develop your trauma-informed care improvement plan.
Gap analysis helps identify the main gaps and opportunities against a desired future state.
Redesign methodology: gap analysis (PDF 105.9 KB)
When you review the self-assessment responses, look for areas where staff have identified that no action or infrequent action is taking place. Compare these against the actions outlined in the framework (PDF 510.8 KB). You will need to identify the reasons why this is happening and develop strategies to address it.
It is also important to engage key stakeholders to diagnose and identify aspects of trauma-informed care that work well and those that do not, as per the framework (PDF 510.8 KB).
Key elements to identify in responses
- Awareness and understanding of trauma-informed care from staff and employees in everyday practices and actions
- Use and understanding of trauma-informed care tools, guides and frameworks
- Collaborative engagement between consumers, clinicians and social support networks, including the use of consumer-led safety plans
- Safety for all within services and teams
- Trauma-informed care in transitions of care and care plan development
- Training and continued professional development
- Clinical supervision
- Trauma-informed care champions and leads.
Considerations for each element
- The person responsible for the delivery of an element
- Where and when the element is carried out
- How consistently the element is carried out
- What is the process for documenting this element and where is the documentation held
- What are the local policy and procedures to support this element.
If there are no clear protocols, policies or documentation for each of these key elements within a local health district, specialty health network or individual service, these may need to be reviewed by the working group to ensure these are addressed.
The gap analysis may reveal areas for improvement and/or the need for further investigation. A prioritisation process is helpful to determine which areas, actions or issues should be addressed first if there are competing demands.
Engaging with key stakeholders in this process is important. The Prioritising key issues fact sheet (PDF 111.8 KB) provides advice on consulting with key stakeholders and reviewing literature to determine a list of priorities.
Grouping issues together may be a useful process when determining when to prioritise action.
Measures are key points to progress and are used to track improvement and identify needs.
One measure alone will be insufficient to determine an improvement in trauma-informed care in your service.
The trauma-informed care self-assessment can be taken several times. You may wish to undertake the self-assessments periodically over an extended time frame. This will allow you to track progress and measure the improvement of trauma-informed care in your service and staff.
Examples of trauma-informed care measures
- Organisational self-assessment carried out periodically and alignment with the framework (PDF 510.8 KB) continually monitored
- Progress is monitored through key performance indicators and service measures
- Staff attending trauma-informed care training and education sessions increases
- Reported care planning for Aboriginal consumers increases.