Critically review approaches to outcome-based practice

For this assessment criterion, you will be required to critically review approaches to outcome-based practice.

Outcome-based practice is used to ensure that care and support services result in outcomes that are important for the service user. For example, two individuals with Down’s Syndrome may, on the surface appear to have similar needs in terms of their care and support. However, by getting to know the individuals and having a genuine interest in their wishes, goals and aspirations, you may find that the outcomes that are important to them are different (e.g. one individual may wish to be supported to achieve a college qualification, whilst the other wishes to be able to cook their own meals).

By focusing on what is important to the individual, we can ensure that care and support services are tailored to the individual’s unique needs, wishes and preferences. Therefore, this ties in with the personalisation agenda and promotes person-centred values.

Some approaches to outcome-based practice are provided below:

Outcomes-based payment for mental healthcare

In 2015, the government proposed an outcome-based payment model for mental healthcare that incentivised service providers by offering additional payments for the achievement of outcomes that are meaningful to service users.

The logic model

A Logic Model is a graphical representation of the inputs, actions, outputs and outcomes of a project or workflow to show how the resources that are invested link with the required results. It is a useful planning tool and it helps to ensure that outcomes that are meaningful to the service user remain in focus.

Results-based accountability

Results-Based Accountability (RBA) is a framework for improving complex social problems by identifying preferred outcomes and working backwards from there. A good overview of this approach can be found here.