A core part of STRIDE was conducting Theory of Change (ToC) stakeholder workshops to (1) develop a strategic direction for STRiDE and dementia care, treatment and support across STRiDE countries (2) develop a monitoring and evaluation framework for STRiDE across STRiDE countries, and 3) develop a strategic direction for STRiDE and dementia care, treatment and support within STRiDE countries.
Within STRiDE we developed ToCs in the following way. We have:
(A) conducted a rapid situational analysis to provide an overview of the dementia situation in each country and to identify relevant stakeholders for the workshops;
(B) developed a project-level (cross-country) ToC with all STRiDE project partners (which was also used as training);
(C) developed country-specific ToCs in stakeholder workshops in each country, and
(D) reviewed and refined the cross-country ToC taking the country ToCs into account. The cross-country ToC has provided a framework to develop our monitoring and evaluation framework and the STRiDE project log frame. This is currently being prepared for publication.
In this guide, we outline an approach to co-developing a ToC with stakeholders to provide strategic direction for policy and programmes for dementia based on the experience of STRiDE. It does not aim to be a comprehensive guideline to developing ToCs or conducting ToC workshops, but rather an outline of the approach used in STRiDE. It should be read together with the forthcoming publication by Breuer et al. which describes the process and outcomes of the STRiDE ToC as well as other resources outlined in Section 4 Further Reading.
Breuer E, Comas-Herrera A, Docrat S, Freeman E, Schneider M and the STRiDE team (2019) STRiDE Theory of Change Workshops: Guidance and Resources. STRiDE Research Tool No.1 (version 2), Care Policy and Evaluation Centre, London School of Economics and Political Science, London.