Hello, AEA365 community! Liz DiLuzio here, Lead Curator of the blog. This week is Individuals Week, which means we take a break from our themed weeks and spotlight the Hot Tips, Cool Tricks, Rad Resources and Lessons Learned from any evaluator interested in sharing. Would you like to contribute to future individuals weeks? Email me at AEA365@eval.org with an idea or a draft and we will make it happen.
Hi! I’m Amy Washbush, Associate Director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Community and Nonprofit Studies. Through our Co-Create team we partner with nonprofit organizations and others to answer the evaluation and research questions that can make communities better.
After having babies with the support of a birth doula, I decided to train as one myself. I supported friends as they prepared, gave birth, and adapted to their lives as parents. This transformative experience shifted how I see the world and can contribute to it, including in my work as an evaluator.
Lessons Learned
What can evaluators learn from doulas? A lot! Here are some reflections on lessons doulas can offer:
- We can best be of service when we center and honor others and their vision. Doulas know the importance of understanding the individual’s goals, priorities, values, and the ways they make sense of the world. This requires taking time and energy to really get to know someone and the situation – for a birth doula, that’s the journey to a baby and parenthood; for an evaluator, that’s the effort the group has designed and nurtured. You ask good questions and listen closely. You need to commit to critical reflection so that you understand your assumptions and biases and can humbly set those aside when needed. When we understand deeply, we can better identify and support necessary adjustments to arrive at the goal and honor the journey.
- Good support is instrumental, informational, social, and emotional and none of these should be ignored. As evaluators, we may assume that the information we provide through our data and reports is all that’s needed, but this is a narrow focus that can undermine the utility of our efforts. Learning from doulas, evaluators should also consider the social aspects of our work (e.g., who will be impacted and how can we engage them?) and attend to the emotional experiences of evaluation users (e.g., how might these results surprise, please, upset, or confuse?). Additionally, evaluators should consider the more direct, instrumental support that we can provide. Doulas place their hands, provide cool compresses, or offer other supports to ease the discomforts of the experience and to arrive at a safe birth. What are the ways that evaluators can ease groups through the process of evaluative learning to achieve their goals?
- Challenge and adaptation are expected. Doulas know that every birth will not go as envisioned and we help prepare birthing individuals for this reality. Accepting this truth helps doulas identify when an adjustment is needed and to act as smoothly as possible. Evaluators and the groups they work with can learn from this perspective. Doulas support families in designing a birth plan while holding the knowledge that the experience will rarely look like that. The key is to find the balance of a well-considered plan with improvisations to face reality.
- Debriefing, or time and process for making sense of the experience, is critical for learning and growth. Part of the practice of doulas is to set aside time after the experience for debriefing the “birth story,” incorporating the perspectives of the birthing person, the doula, and others who were a part of this process. This facilitates the sensemaking and processing of the experience, including the challenges faced, and supports the person and their family in what’s next. Too often, evaluators send a report and move on without taking time to support the group in making sense of evaluation results, processing their experience and feelings, and determining applications of the learning. As evaluators, we can learn from this intentional practice.
Do you have thoughts on doulas and the lessons they can offer evaluators? Reach out and share them with me: ahilgendorf@wisc.edu.
Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this aea365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the aea365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an aea365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to aea365@eval.org . aea365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators. The views and opinions expressed on the AEA365 blog are solely those of the original authors and other contributors. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of the American Evaluation Association, and/or any/all contributors to this site.