The consultation was divided into two separate parts. The first part consisted of an on-line survey open to services and organisations that either work with people affected by substance misuse who may have children or that work with families and/or children who may be affected by substance misuse. The second part involved a series of structured telephone interviews with a select number of key nationally focused bodies in the AOD, FS, and CP sectors and one state body from the AOD sector.
A Consultation Steering Committee consisting of representatives from the ANCD and FaHCSIA was established to oversee and guide the project. This Committee also had input into the development of the online survey and telephone interview questions.
Survey
The survey was distributed to services and organisations working in the AOD, FS, and CP sectors through established e-mail networks. Services and organisations received an e-mail explaining the survey consultation process and inviting interested parties to complete the survey. A copy of the e-mail is provided at appendix A. Individual organisations that had more than one site or more than one relevant service were encouraged to have all the services within their organisation respond. Included in the e-mail was a link to a background discussion paper that had been developed to assist people in responding to the survey and the survey. A copy of the Background Discussion paper, including a letter from FaHCSIA is provided at appendix B.
Survey Instrument and Question Design
A structured survey instrument was designed using 'SurveyMonkey' (http://www.surveymonkey.com/Default.aspx), an online survey program which enables users to create and conduct professional online surveys . The survey questions were developed with input and approval from the Steering Committee members. The survey consisted of seven questions about the respondents’ organisation and eight quantitative and qualitative questions specifically designed to obtain an individual service perspective. The survey questions used are provided in appendix C. Respondents indicated on a five point scale the level of importance or appropriateness of a variety of specified services, models, programs, and factors ranging from extremely important/appropriate to not important/appropriate. The questions were divided among five sections:
- Organisational details
- Program Design/ Service Model
- Needs and Location
- Selection of Providers
- Additional Comments
The online survey was conducted between 23 June and 6 July, 2009. Complete results of the qualitative part of the survey are provided in appendix D.
Survey Sample
A total of 171 respondents to the online survey provided sufficient information to be included in the findings. The results identified that most respondents worked for not-for-profit organisations: NGO (133; 77.8%); Government (37; 21.6%); and private companies (1; 0.6%). The majority of respondents (76%) worked for a service which is part of a larger organisation that provides multiple services.
Most respondents worked in organisations which provide multiple types of services: AOD (53.2%); FS (57.9%); CP (20.5%); and other sectors (11.1%). Figure 1 presents the sector in which respondents’ services/organisations work.
Description of Figure 1
Figure 1. Number of respondents according to the sector type in which their service/organisation operates.
Many services and/or organisations operated in more than one state or territory: NSW (39.8%), VIC (22.2%); QLD (23.4%); SA (19.9%); WA (24.6%); TAS (12.9%); ACT (14.0%); and NT (15.8%). Figure 2 presents state/territory in which respondents’ services operate.
Description of Figure 2
Figure 2. Number of respondents according to state/territory in which their service/organisation works.
Many respondents worked for services and/or organisations which operated in a variety of sites: capital cities (56.7%); major (21.6%); regional centres (32.2%); and smaller locations (12.9%). Figure 3 presents the location in which respondents’ services/ organisations work.
Description of Figure 3
Figure 3. Number of respondents according to location in which their service/organisation works.
More than half of services and/or organisations had an annual budget of less than $1.5 million (58.5%) while almost one third (31.6%) of respondents indicated that they worked for a service or organisation which currently receives funding under the Strengthening Families Program.
Telephone Interviews
Structured telephone interviews were undertaken with select key nationally focused bodies in the AOD, FS, and CP sectors and one state body from the AOD sector. These bodies were selected to ensure a national perspective across the three sectors. Due to restrictions on resources and time, the number selected was limited to a maximum of three per sector. A list of organisations invited to take part is provided in appendix E.
The selected bodies in the FS and CP sectors were initially approached by FaHCSIA staff to explain the purpose of the consultations and invite them to take part. Those that agreed to participate were contacted by the ANCD by telephone to organise a time for an interview and sent a copy of interview questions which included background information. The AOD bodies were contacted directly by the ANCD. The questions and background information is presented in appendix F.
A few bodies were unable to take part in the consultation. As one key national peak body for the AOD sector was unable to take part due to resource and time constraints, a state AOD peak body was contacted and asked to take part, in their place.
Telephone interviews were constructed to provide a national perspective across the AOD, FS, and CP sectors and to build on the information from the survey consultation.
Telephone Interview Question Design
The questions used for the telephone interviews were developed with input and approval from the Steering Committee members. The questions were open-ended and were divided among five sections:
- Linkages/collaboration between sectors and services
- Improving access to relevant services
- Working with families and children
- Identifying children at risk
- Responding to children at risk
The interviews took place between 07 and 14 July, 2009.