Evaluation of suicide prevention activities

6.3 Program level data

Page last updated: January 2014

6.3.1 Overview of program level data submitted
6.3.2 Time estimates for program activities

6.3.1 Overview of program level data submitted

A full six months of data was received from 43 out of 46 projects (94%), providing a total of 270 program data submissions for the period October 2012 to March 2013. The distribution of these submissions by month is shown in Table 6-3. The majority of projects submitted program level data for each of the six months from October 2012 to March 2013.

    Table 6-3: Program level data submission by month

    Collection period
    No. submitted
    % total projects
    (n=46)
    October 2012
    46
    100
    November 2012
    45
    98
    December 2012
    45
    98
    January 2013
    45
    98
    February 2013
    46
    100
    March 2013
    43
    93
    Total
    270
    -

6.3.2 Time estimates for program activities

Program level data included estimates of the proportion of time spent by each project in relation to nine key activities, as follows:
  • Travel
  • Event planning
  • Administration
  • Event/activity promotion
  • Service provision
  • Research and development
  • Information development and provision
  • Supervision
  • Other
Table 6-4 provides a summary of information provided by projects regarding time spent in relation to the above activities. For each activity, the table identifies, the minimum, maximum and mean percentage of time reported.

The minimum and maximum percentage range for each activity indicates that projects differed substantially in terms of the time spent in relation to each activity. Overall, service provision was, on average, the activity upon which projects spent most time (mean = 28.1%). However, it should be noted that some organisations were not involved in direct service provision, defined in the MDS Data Dictionary as time spent actually delivering services to individual or groups. Projects that allocated a greater proportion of their time to activities such as research and development or administration have low percentages allocated to service provision.

The time allocated to each activity is shown using 5% intervals in Table 6-5. The table identifies, for example, that 28 of the 270 program data submissions (over the six month period) report that travel time represented zero (0) percent of their time. Top of page

    Table 6-4: Proportion of time allocation by program activity (%)

    Program activity
    Minimum
    %
    Maximum
    %
    Mean
    %
    Travel
    0
    60
    11.2
    Event planning
    0
    75
    13.7
    Administration
    0
    100
    15.4
    Event/activity promotion
    0
    65
    8.7
    Service provision
    0
    87
    28.1
    Research and development
    0
    87
    11.6
    Information development and provision
    0
    80
    6.9
    Supervision
    0
    30
    1.9
    Other
    0
    40
    2.6
Top of page

Table 6-5: Time allocation by program activity, all program data submissions

Time allocation
(%)
Travel
(n)
Event planning
(n)
Administration
(n)
Event/activity promotion
(n)
Service provision
(n)
Research
(n)
Information provision
(n)
Supervision
(n)
Other
(n)
0%
28
29
11
32
65
82
164
215
205
1-5%
82
60
43
112
10
90
45
26
26
6-10%
70
70
75
75
20
39
21
19
21
11-15%
39
32
47
19
15
7
3
6
3
16-20%
22
23
46
17
14
15
10
1
8
21-25%
5
23
16
5
12
6
1
1
4
26-30%
12
14
9
4
20
5
4
2
1
31-35%
7
7
10
-
16
1
3
-
1
36-40%
3
4
6
5
31
5
9
-
1
41-45%
1
1
3
-
7
1
2
-
-
46-50%
-
5
1
-
12
1
3
-
-
51-55%
-
-
-
-
2
1
-
-
-
56-60%
1
1
2
-
23
5
1
-
-
61-65%
-
-
-
1
8
1
-
-
-
66-70%
-
-
-
-
2
1
1
-
-
71-75%
-
1
-
-
1
-
2
-
-
76-80%
-
-
-
-
3
5
1
-
-
81-85%
-
-
-
-
8
3
-
-
-
86-90%
-
-
-
-
1
2
-
-
-
91-95%
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
96-100%
-
-
1
-
-
-
-
-
-
Total
270
270
270
270
270
270
270
270
270

Key findings

Program data indicates that NSPP-funded projects spent more time on service provision activities than any other activity. Wide variations existed in the way projects spent their time, reflecting the diversity of the project activities undertaken and the settings in which the activities take place.