Evaluation: Better lives for older people
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Octavia is a not-for-profit organisation which provides thousands of people in London with quality, affordable housing. It offers a wide range of support to older and vulnerable adults living in its homes, including helping people to stay active, independent and a part of their community.
In particular, Octavia’s outreach, befriending and activities services for older people provide practical help to isolated individuals, regular and ongoing companionship from trained and dedicated volunteers, and group social activities that connect people with their peers. This report details our evaluation of these services.
Our evaluation strengthens Octavia’s evidence base and will inform future decisions on creating better lives for older people, such as growing their outreach, one-to-one befriending and activities services further. We found that there is strong evidence to indicate that Octavia’s services achieved many of their intended outcomes, including reducing loneliness, encouraging greater self-care, supporting physical health and independence, and promoting well-being and quality of life amongst their users. We also provide recommendations on what Octavia should do differently in the future, such as developing a long-term monitoring approach.
You can find Octavia’s summary of this report here. Visit this page for more on evaluation. Get in touch to find out how we can help your organisation.
We would like to thank NPC for their dedicated work on this research, particularly Elizabeth Parker, Matthew Mannix, Rosie McCleod and Carin Eisenstein.
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