WORK PROGRAMME 2001-2003

Work in the Transdrug project was divided in ten work packages (WP), some of which spanned over the whole duration of the project.

METHOD DEVELOPMENT, METHOD TESTING AND PRODUCTION OF THE TOOL KIT

WP1 Method development

January 2001 - June 2001

Method development, i.e. exploring the potential of training needs assessment methods and drawing up plans for method testing, was done separately in partner countries and jointly in two transnational work meetings (TWM). The programme of TWM I included presentations on partner organisations, on previous projects and activities relevant to the theme, on partner countries' addiction services & training systems and on the poly/substance use situation in partner countries. Two invited experts presented experiences of the use of qualitative research techniques used in training needs anticipation projects carried out in Finland with support from the European Social Fund. Discussion about key concepts was started and preliminary work plans for method testing were presented.

Method development continued at national level and plans for method testing were presented in TWM II. Some partners moved on to the method testing phase and were able to present preliminary results. Planning for the project's main product, the Tool Kit, was started in the form of group work.

WP4 Method testing

July 2001 - December 2001

TWM III: December 2001, Haarlem, Netherlands

Method testing refers to the practical application of the chosen training needs assessment methods. The approaches to method testing varied from one country to another. In Italy, partner organisations carried out a joint multiphase project. In Slovakia, quantitative and qualitative methods were tested in eight sub-projects carried out by the partners and co-ordinated by the CPLDZ in Bratislava. In the Netherlands, training was examined in the context of the re-structuring of Jellinek's addiction services and of developments in the addictions field at national level. A sub-project consisted in redesigning the course evaluation and needs assessment instrument of the European Addiction Training Institute. In Finland, method testing was mainly carried out in separate sub-projects. The vocational training institutions focussed on the needs and interests of students, applicants or former students. The A-Clinic Foundation developed a survey instrument that was used in the Foundation's own sub-projects and by several other Finnish partners.

Reports on sub-projects were presented in TWM III. Group work was done to clarify the nature and contents of the Tool Kit and an Editorial Board was nominated. After a first meeting in Haarlem, the Editorial Board communicated using e-mail and the project's Internet-based workspace, the Transdrug Project Room.

Fine-tuning of methods & development of Tool Kit

January 2002 - September 2002

TWM IV: September 2002, Bratislava, Slovak Republic

Method testing continued in several sub-projects. In some cases training needs assessment approaches were refined, in others the information gathered was used to develop pilot training events. During the project period, one of the Finnish training institutions, Pirkanmaa Polytechnic, was able to gather information about training needs, develop and implement a new specialisation programme in substance abuse work, and evaluate the results of the training.

Reports on the subprojects were edited into draft articles for the Tool Kit. In TWM IV group work was done to determine the overall structure of the Tool Kit, to choose the articles to be included and to give suggestions for further development for the authors.

WP6 Production of the Tool Kit

October 2002 - November 2003

During winter 2002 and spring 2003, draft texts for the Tool Kit were edited into publishable articles, in co-operation with the authors, by two editors at the A-Clinic Foundation. Revised texts were installed in the Project Room to give the participants an idea of the final product. The English and Finnish versions of the Tool Kit were published in June 2003. On-line versions became available in September (see section "resources"). The Dutch on-line version and the Slovak printed version became available in August, and the Italian printed version in November 2003.

DISSEMINATION

WP6 Production of the Tool Kit

Whole duration of the project

Transdrug seminars:

Information about the project was disseminated through press conferences and press releases, articles written and presentations given by project participants, through partners' web sites and other Internet-based channels.

In line with the idea of dialogic dissemination, training needs assessment often included a presentation about the Transdrug project. The backup provided by a transnational project encouraged co-operation from the targeted groups and contributed to the success of information gathering.

During the first part of the project, dissemination activities were targeted primarily to the staff/membership of partner organisations, to partners' own sphere of activity, and to regional and national levels. At the end of the project, dissemination at national and European levels increased in importance.

At the start of the project, major partners were provided with material to support the planning of dissemination activities (Methods and tools for effective dissemination, Leonardo Centre & IACEE, 1999 / Vaikuttavat tulokset, Suurla, Markkula & Leonardokeskus, 1998). Preliminary plans for dissemination activities were presented in TWM I. Reports on dissemination activities were collected for the project's interim and final reports.

A selection of publicity materials, including a poster, a folder, a five-language brochure and templates for Power Point presentations and for other ad hoc materials were produced centrally for use by all project partners. Some partners produced publicity materials for use at national level.

The Transdrug web site was launched in October 2001. At the end of the project, various Transdrug products, including the Tool Kit were made available on line in the web site (see section "resources"). Information about the project, including some Transdrug products, can also be found in several partners' web sites.

In December 2002 an Italian language book (Policonsumo di droghe: Scenari ed interventi formativi. FrancoAngeli, 2003) was published to disseminate the results of the Italian sub-project and to shed light on the poly drug use phenomenon more generally.

At the end of the project, seminars of regional or national importance were organised in Italy, Slovakia and Finland to disseminate the project's results and products. The seminars attracted a wide range of stakeholders from the addiction and training sectors and from regional/national expert and policy making organisations.

OTHER WORK PACKAGES

WP2 Overviews of service systems & training structures

January 2001 - September 2003

Presentations on partner countries' addiction service and training systems were given in transnational work meetings. Part of the material was integrated in the Tool Kit as background information that helps put into a context the findings relating to training needs.

Part of the information was relayed to Finnish readers through articles published in the A-Clinic Foundation's journal Tiimi. (Links to the articles can be found in the Finnish section of the Transdrug web site.)

Overviews of Slovak, Italian and Dutch addiction service and training systems were published on line in the Transdrug web site (September 2003). (See section "resources".)

Recent developments in substance use-related training in Finland were given special attention. A collection of articles (Perspectives on addiction training in Finland) written by Finnish Transdrug partners and by other experts was published in Finnish (June 2003) and in English (on-line in December 2003, see section "resources").

WP3 ICT training

April 2001 - November 2001

Introductory training in the use of ICT was organised for project participants in most partner countries. The main purpose was to ensure that those involved in the project are able to utilise ICT in subsequent phases of the project. Between the national and transnational work meetings, e-mail was the main method of communication, along with the Internet-based Project Room. ICT training implemented in the framework of the project and use of ICT by some partner organisations is described in articles available in the Transdrug web site (see section "resources").

WP8 Co-ordination of the project

Whole duration

TWM V: June 2003, Järvenpää, Finland

The A-Clinic Foundation was in charge of the overall co-ordination of the project. CPLDZ-IDZ, A. ULSS 18 Rovigo and Jellinek/EATI acted as co-ordinating organisations in partner countries. Within each partner organisation, one/two person/s acted as the contact person. The project also had a Management Group. Project-related issues were addressed in business meetings in conjunction with transnational work meetings, often involving all participants. Besides the transnational work meetings, partners' meetings were frequently held at national level. TWM V mainly focussed on final reporting and on dissemination of the project's results.

At the start of the project, the A-Clinic Foundation set up an Internet-based shared workspace, the Transdrug Project Room. The Project Room was used for storing and disseminating project-related materials, to some extent also for virtual meetings and discussion on project-related topics. The A-Clinic Foundation was also responsible for setting up the Transdrug web site, for producing publicity materials for use by project partners and for finalising the Tool Kit's content and design. The A-Clinic Foundation produced the English and Finnish versions of the Tool Kit, whereas the Dutch, Slovak and Italian translations were produced by the Jellinek, the CPLDZ in Bratislava, and A. ULSS 18 Rovigo, respectively.

WP9 Internal evaluation

January 2001 - May 2003

The project's internal evaluation was carried out by the Institute for social and health care studies, Tampere. The internal evaluation focussed on:

The work process and collaboration between partners at national and transnational level.
The co-ordination of the project.
Issues related to use of the English language and ICT skills.
The programme, structure and working methods of the transnational work meetings.

The methods used were: four evaluation surveys (some inviting free-format comments from respondents); monitoring and evaluation of material in the project Room; participation (and participant observation) in three transnational meetings and nearly all Finnish partners' meetings; discussions (dialogue) with partners about work in the project.

For the most part, information was gathered through e-surveys installed in the Project Room. Reports on the results were also made available mainly through the Project Room. Some respondents had technical problems and instead of using the software, printed out the surveys and sent their responses by post. By and large, the response rates remained low. In most surveys, English language was used. To encourage more active participation, the last survey was translated into Italian and Slovak and was delivered in traditional paper format. This increased the number of respondents to 21. The overall response rate was in the range of 30-60%, considering the number of the most actively involved project participants.

Despite the fairly low response rate the internal evaluation, especially the free format comments, were helpful for developing the project's working methods. Transnational work meetings were geared towards group work and efforts were made to facilitate the use of English language for example through translation.

WP10 External evaluation

October 2001 - April 2003

The project's external evaluation was carried out by an independent researcher. The evaluation focussed on five themes:

The extent to which and the manners in which the findings related to training needs and/or the Tool Kit were made use of within partner organisations.
Views and experiences of project participants.
The extent of networking within the partnership and between partner organisations and other parties.
Participants' experiences of transnational co-operation and of distance group work over the Internet.
The adequacy of financial resources with respect to the project plans.

Traditional survey forms distributed through e-mail were used as the main method for gathering information. The first survey (February 2002) was addressed to all those involved in the project. Responses from 36 persons were taken into account in the analysis. The estimated response rate was around 80%. The second survey (November 2002) was addressed to national co-ordinators and partner organisations' contact persons. 16 of the 21 mailed surveys were returned.

The external evaluator had access to the materials in the Project Room and participated as an observer in two transnational work meetings. In TWM IV, project evaluation was the theme for one group work session. Both the internal and the external evaluator gave a presentation about their findings and an application of the Bonos's hats method was used to engage participants in the evaluation process. (For a short report, see A Trainer's Tool Kit, p. 114-116.)

The external evaluation's interim report helped develop the project's working methods along the way. The final report of was also helpful in the project reporting phase.

Updated 13.1.2004


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