AFWI Developmental Evaluation Report

Laura Tilghman, Miya Cain, Colleen McCann, and Joelle Cook

Evaluation Report

Palix Foundation, August 2020

From September 2019 to April 2020, Alberta Family Wellness Initiative (AFWI) commissioned a developmental evaluation to explore the extent to which progress towards Brain Story knowledge dissemination and integration into practice and policy had been made under its current strategy, and how AFWI might continue to evolve. The developmental evaluation explored changes among individuals, organizations, and sub-systems, with a focus on four sectors in Alberta: health (including addiction medicine), education, children’s services, and justice. The evaluation also considered AFWI’s partnerships beyond Alberta, and what lessons these partners have exchanged through collaboration and replication. The evaluation identified the ways that AFWI’s strategy and activities had changed during the evaluation period of 2015 - 2019, with an emphasis on open access to the Brain Story knowledge and deepened focus on supporting practice changes within organizations and systems in Alberta. In addition to the main report, the evaluation also generated two case studies focused on specific AFWI activities and impacts over the last several years: alignment of policy and practice in the children’s services sub-system, and AFWI’s partnership with the Kainai First Nation in southern Alberta.


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