Enquiries and Concerns Register

Recording the enquiries and concerns of the target group means the continuous documentation of needs expressed by members of the target group. Immediately after every target group contact (in person or by phone or email), the needs mentioned in the course of the conversation are documented by marking them off on a register of predetermined topics. The marks are then added up and analysed at regular intervals for each topic area.

The list of topics is revised as necessary to include additional needs. Carrying out this kind of documentation over a longer period provides information about the changing needs of a target group over time. The advantage of this method lies in the fact that it can be relatively easily built into the daily working routine. The expressed needs of a target group can be recorded in this way “as you go along” (incidentally).

Prerequisites
A form with categories of need and a space for marking them off

• Consistency in filling the form in regularly

Applications

• Target group Needs Assessment
• Detecting trends in the changing needs of a target group

Process Overview

1. Determining categories of need
2. Designing the form (register for marking)
3. Training personnel in using the form
4. Adding up results at regular intervals
5. Analysing the results

Resources Required
Time:
Developing the form normally takes less than one working day. Team members can be trained in its use as part of a team meeting. Using the form after each target group contact is a matter of minutes. The time the analysis of results will take depends on its scope and the service organisation’s expectations.

Personnel:
A member of the team can develop the form. It is recommended to consult those workers who are in direct contact with the target group on the content and design of the form in order to check in advance that it is user-friendly and suitable for practice. All personnel who have contact with the target group should use the form.

Materials:
A printed form for all personnel with direct target group contact. Where relevant, computers to develop the forms, to enter and analyse the data and to report it in graphs (e.g. using Excel or a similar software).

Other Costs:
None

Detailed Working Steps

1. Determining Categories of Need

Categories of need should match the language used by the target group in order to facilitate allocating their statements quickly. They may cover basic needs (e.g. food, clothing, medical care) and/or other topics (e.g. counselling, organising an apprenticeship, information on a particular health issue).

2. Designing the Form (register for marking)

A table with the list of needs in the first column and space for marking in the second is sufficient as a simple form for this type of documentation. Only marginally more involved, but significantly more meaningful is case-specific documentation: this requires a column for each person (see “Further Advice” below). Discussing the form with the personnel that is supposed to use it will make it more user-friendly and practice-oriented.

3. Training Personnel in Using the Form

During the introduction to using the form, both the marking process (completing it after each and every client contact) and the significance of each listed need should be discussed to ensure that everyone allocates statements made by members of the target group in a comparable manner.

4. Adding up Results at Regular Intervals

To add up results means to convert the marks appearing next to each category to numbers, e.g. Counselling (54), Accommodation (6) or Child Care (13).

5. Analysing the Results

The simplest form of analysis is ranking, i.e. listing the needs in order of the number of marks they received. Where case-specific information is available (see Further Advice below), a more differentiated analysis (e.g. according to gender or age group where available) can be conducted and reference can be made to links between needs. By recording enquiries and concerns of the target group over a longer period, changes in their needs can be documented.

Please Note:

• The method of recording enquiries and concerns of the target group is not a survey, but a form of documenting statements made by the target group within conversations occurring as part of commonly practiced forms of service provision.
• A frequently encountered problem is that team members have not yet developed a common understanding of the meaning of the categories of need appearing on the form. It is recommended to use concrete examples to clarify the categories during the training.
• The categories appearing on the form should not need or even allow any further interpretation by workers, but simply reflect statements made by the target group. A worker may, for example, think that a person needs psychotherapy. If the person, however, does not explicitly request therapy, the category “psychotherapeutic treatment” should not be marked.
• The recorded needs should not be limited to the primary focus of the service organisation’s work, but rather consider all categories mentioned by the target group. On the basis of the information collected in this way, existing services can be reflected upon in view of the target group’s lived experience.

Further Advice

• Case-specific recording of needs offers the opportunity to differentiate needs according to important personal characteristics. It is possible to record e.g. gender, age, ethnic background or similar for each conversation, so that the analysis can differentiate according to subgroups. Tracing statements back to individual cases can also provide insights into which needs are linked.
• A column with examples can be introduced o obtain clear definitions of the listed needs. It should quote typical statements to be allocated to the respective need. Such examples can guide workers who are filling in the form.
• A field for notes is also helpful for recording comments to be included in the next revision of the form (e.g. ideas for additional categories).
• The currency of the categories listed on the form should be checked regularly. It usually becomes necessary over time to add new categories or remove them (because they are hardly used) in order to adapt the form to the statements made by the target group. It may also become apparent that categories are not differentiated enough, or the reverse: that several categories can be combined under a new heading.

Authors:
Wright/Block/Unger