PrEval Studie 8/2025

Klient*innen­zentrierte Evaluation in komplexen Beratungs­settings

Svetla Koynova & Emma van Heeswijk (Violence Prevention Network)

What effect does a complex support network actually have on the individual distancing process of clients? And how can these complex interactions be understood and evaluated? These questions were the focus of an innovative PrEval pilot study, which was conducted between 2022 and 2024. Instead of just looking at individual programmes, this study focused on the interaction of the entire support network – from civil society advice centres, public authorities and the justice system to voluntary services and specialist service providers.

In order to test the feasibility of such a client-centered evaluation, a cooperation with the Aussteigerprogramm Sachsen (APro Sachsen) took place. Interviews with clients, counsellors and other stakeholders were used, as well as network maps to make the interactions in the support system visible.

The results provide practical recommendations for professionals in distancing programs, their cooperation partners and evaluators in order to better understand the effects of complex support networks and to strengthen them in a targeted manner.

Svetla Koynova is a political scientist and a sociologist of religion with a focus on intercultural and transcultural management. Together with Maximilian Campos Ruf, she heads the Research Department at Violence Prevention Network gGmbH. Her research focuses include monitoring, evaluation, and learning processes, group-focused enmity, and radicalisation.

Emma van Heeswijk is an anthropologist and PhD candidate at Utrecht University, researching legal firearms communities. Her research focuses on security and violence. She studied Cultural Anthropology with a focus on Criminology (BA, Utrecht) and Security, Intelligence and Strategic Studies specializing in Peace and Conflict Studies (MA, Glasgow, Dublin, Prague). At the Violence Prevention Network, she worked on a study testing client-centered evaluation in complex counseling settings.