Just how good are we?

Type: News | Research
Topic: Camphill
Published on: 21st July 2017

We are very pleased to announce that we have commissioned independent research, by Why Research, on how awareness and perception of the ”˜Camphill brand’ affects decision making about care provision in Scotland.

There are two stages to the research.

First there is an online questionnaire. We want to get this to as many people as possible who can give an informed view of Camphill from an external perspective ”“ parents, carers, care managers, care inspectors, local authority commissioners, other organisations that communities work with, or who compete with them, and so on.
Once this phase of the research has been completed, there will be a series of 20 interviews with key people from three groups:
- 10 interviews with local authority commissioners.
- 5 interviews with parents and carers of people with a learning disability who live and work in a Camphill community.
- 5 interviews with other organisations in the field of learning disability in Scotland.

Why does it matter?

We want to get a much stronger sense of the Camphill brand ”“ that is, the organisational personality associated with the name ”˜Camphill’
We hope to shed light on the local reputation of individual communities and see where this compares to the general perception
We hope to identify key variables that affect decision making over care provision such as: cost, personalisation, independence, safety, purpose, belonging, innovation, empowerment, quality of life and so on
We hope the interviews will shed light on any differences between parents/carers on the one hand and local authority on the other and how these are managed during the decision making process

The outcome should be a much clearer sense of exactly where Camphill stands in the eyes of others on the social care scene in Scotland, including what they value about Camphill and any reservations they hold. This will give us an excellent learning opportunity with hopefully some very practical outcomes:

Our marketing can highlight the advantages Camphill possesses that other providers find difficult to match.
We will be better able to challenge and/or address any negative perceptions
Our presentation of Camphill can be adapted for different groups in the light of their different priorities, influence and outlook
By understanding the decision making process more fully we can identify any ways in which people may be denied the opportunity to live and work in Camphill and challenge this

Conducting an exercise like this is also a positive message to the world around us that we care about how we are viewed and are prepared to act on that.