How do we know Active Living will make a difference

The evaluation of Somerset Active Living is being carried out by a team of researchers from the Personal Social Services Research Unit at the University of Kent, headed by Professor Ann Netten. A key focus of the evaluation is to develop an approach to measuring the contribution of the Active Living Centres to the quality of life of older people making use of the centres, and ‘how’ Active Living is making a difference to both individuals and their communities.

The contribution of the Active Living Centres to overall well being of older people will be both directly through specific activities and indirectly through information and advice that helps individuals and families to access ‘mainstream’ or ‘universal’ services or local groups.

In addition, the University of Kent team is co-ordinating with a national evaluation, which is being led by the University of Hertfordshire. The national evaluation will be comparing the impact of the different Active Living initiatives throughout the country.