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Results are in for the 2009 Participant Survey

The annual Participant Survey acts as the barometer for the Military Family Services Program (MFSP). It reports on how families feel about the services available at each location, and provides a snapshot of how the family program is perceived across the board.

The local results for the 2009 MFSP Participant Survey have now been emailed to each Canadian/Military Family Resource Centre (C/MFRC), with hard-copy results following by mail. These reports will give each C/MFRC a detailed break down of their scores, indicating where their Centres are excelling, and which services could use some extra attention.

In addition to these local results, Director Military Family Services (DMFS) is providing a Summary Report which gives a collective picture of how all C/MFRCs are delivering the MFSP. C/MFRCs may find it useful to compare their results with those in this program-wide summary to get a sense of where they’re on target and where they stand apart.

The Summary Report includes a lot of positive results for C/MFRCs. On the whole, military families continue to highly value the MFSP services they receive. Military families give C/MFRC staff high marks for their respectful attitudes, and trust them to keep their information confidential. Overall, families had positive things to say about the services they received in each of the mandated services categories: Child &Youth Development, Family Separation & Reunion, Prevention, Support & Intervention, and Personal Development & Community Integration.

Though the Summary Report indicates largely positive results, there are several areas for improvement noted in this year’s survey. Helping families make smooth employment transitions continues to be a challenge for C/MFRCs. Facilitating access to reliable and affordable emergency respite and casual child care was another area of continued concern, where a significant minority of families reported difficulties. DMFS will continue to work on enhancing these services through the transformation of the MFSP.

The Summary Report also indicated that disappointing returns were received for the 2009 Participant Survey. There were 2041 total respondents, for an 11% response rate. This represents a significant drop from the 16% response rate received in 2008. As we prepare to conduct the 2010 Participant Survey, DMFS would like to reiterate the importance of the Participant Survey for monitoring and enhancing the MFSP. The Participant Survey is a critical opportunity for families to have their say in the services we provide, and DMFS encourages all C/MFRCs to strive for higher response rates in the future.

 Click here to view the MFSP Participant Survey 2009 Summary Report (pdf 2.21 MB).