Evaluation is crucial to the development and sustainability of Arts Therapy and Arts & Health practices.

This guide supports practitioners in their quest to integrate thorough evaluation procedures in their everyday practices by providing practical guidance for designing, planning and implementing bespoke evaluation projects.

Based on the authors' experience of designing and realising evaluation projects and running training workshops, a range of suggestions are offered for developing appropriate timelines and collection tools, ensuring organisational diplomacy, and managing what can be a delicate balance of truth, fact and perception.

This guide will help practitioners to evaluate their services and projects by taking into consideration the unique profile of the practice, the workplace, clients, project participants, and sectors.

Practical guidance for designing, planning and implementing bespoke evaluation projects

About the Author
Giorgos Tsiris trained as a music therapist at Nordoff Robbins (London, UK), where he is now conducting his doctoral research. He is a research assistant at Nordoff Robbins where he coordinates the monitoring and evaluation portfolio. He works as a music therapist with terminally ill adults and bereaved families at St Christopher's Hospice. He is the founding editor of the open access journal, Approaches: Music Therapy & Special Music Education, and coordinator of the Research Network of the British Association for Music Therapy. Mercedes Pavlicevic trained as a music therapist at Nordoff Robbins (London, UK), and completed her doctoral studies at the University of Edinburgh's Department of Psychology with Colwyn Trevarthen. As a music therapist she worked in a range of institutional and community settings, in Scotland, in the Lebanon and in South Africa. Mercedes was Director of the Master's in Music Therapy programme at the University of Pretoria until 2006 - this was the first accredited training programme on the African Continent. She authored, co-authored and edited numerous music therapy publications. She was Research Director at Nordoff Robbins, and Research Associate at SOAS Music Department, at the University of London. Camilla Farrant trained as a music therapist at Nordoff Robbins (London, UK) after reading Music at Christ's College, Cambridge University and studying the cello and piano at the Royal Academy of Music. She is the founder of and music therapist for The Music Therapy Tree, an organisation that provides music therapy to vulnerable children in mainstream education. She works as a research assistant at Nordoff Robbins, and performs professionally with The Massive Violins.

Reviews
By clearly focusing on value in context and reflexivity in practice to determine its meaning, we are offered appropriate evaluation tools that work from the inside out. It sensibly distinguishes between evaluation and research, and by being context-specific rather than practice-specific in assessing the utility of its methodologies, it offers entry points for practitioners from a wide range of backgrounds. -- from the foreword by Mike White, Centre for Medical Humanities, Durham University
At a time when not evaluating is not an option, when we all need to improve our effectiveness and understand and demonstrate the impact of our work, this book makes essential and timely reading. For practitioners grappling with the need to evaluate but struggling to know what to measure or how to do it, this book helps us to ask the right questions, in the right order, at the right time and supports us with detailed and practical guidance on appropriate evaluation methodologies. -- Jane Willis, Founder and Director, Willis Newson, UK
In their book Giorgos Tsiris, Mercedes Pavlicevic and Camilla Farrant provide a comprehensive overview of principles, methods and skills of evaluation in the fields of participatory arts and health, and arts therapy. The book is structured in a way that will enable practitioners, managers and researchers in these fields to critically understand and implement evaluation processes, thoughtfully supported by the use of a wide range of diagrams, figures and learning tools. At a time when there are growing expectations that health and social care interventions should be underpinned by evidence, this book is an invaluable addition to the literature. -- Jim Campbell, PhD, Professor of Social Work and Head of Department of Social, Therapeutic and Community Studies, Goldsmiths, University of London
This book provides a comprehensive overview of evaluation in the arts therapies and offers clear and practical steps in evaluating clinical practice... The extremely informative, clear and engaging style makes this book easily accessible to those who have no experience of evaluation... A Guide to Evaluation for Arts Therapists and Arts and Health Practitioners answers many questions and will be helpful to all arts therapists across contexts and client groups... highly recommended. -- Philippa Derrington, Programme Leader, MSc MT (Nordoff Robbins), Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh * British Association of Music Therapy *
A Guide to Evaluation for Arts Therapists and Arts & Health Practitioners provides not only a toolkit of methods by also a consideration of the wider aspects of the evaluation process from the perspectives of the organisation and stakeholders, teamwork, participants and ethics... I was impressed with the authors' very clear definition of the differences between theses and ensuing implications along with their ideas on how to integrate evaluation into practice in differing contexts... The authors are ambitious... inspire practitioners to dare to collect data in ways that may seem counterintuitive... Great attention is given to the planning of the evaluation... The text serves as an introduction to these methods, is brief and straightforward and would be useful for anyone new to methods of evaluation. -- Catherine Carr, MT and researcher * British Journal of Music Therapy *



Book Information
ISBN 9781849054188
Author Mercedes Pavlicevic
Format Paperback
Page Count 176
Imprint Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Publisher Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Weight(grams) 234g
Dimensions(mm) 219mm * 162mm * 10mm