Motivation Australia’s (MA), Larissa Burke visited Samoa in October 2017 to work with stakeholders and a local team to prepare to undertake qualitative interviews with those who have been provided with a prosthetic or long term orthotic from the National Health Service Mobility Device Service (MDS). These interviews will provide the opportunity to hear more about the impact of a prosthetic or orthotic device and the MDS service on people’s lives, and will inform the final evaluation of the Samoa Integrated Mobility Device Services (SIMDES) project.
A key activity during this visit was the ‘Interview Preparation Workshop’. This 3 day workshop was attended by the three members of the interview team which includes two representatives from Nuanua O Le Alofa (NOLA) Disability Advocacy Organisation and a data collector from the Ministry of Women Community and Social Development. The workshop included a presentation from the PO personnel from the NHS MDS and provided the opportunity for the team to work together with NOLA to finalise logistics and to trail the interview.
MA would like to thank the NHS MDS, NOLA, MWCSD and the interview team for their support and contribution into final preparations for the interviews. MA also thanks the Australian Government for the funding of the SIMDES project.
The interviews are well underway and MA looks forward to returning to Samoa to assist in analysing and sharing the findings.