Build a Legacy with People
PCEP “Build a Legacy with People” Showcase
The Patient and Carer Education Partnership (PCEP) at Queen’s University Belfast hosted a one-day showcase bringing together patients, carers, academics, healthcare professionals, and students to redefine the role of people with lived experience as co-producers and co-educators — not just contributors of anecdotal input. The event used a creative evaluation method called the “Tree of Legacy” to capture mindset shifts, surface unconscious bias, and secure concrete commitments for future action.
The Tree of Legacy concept was originally developed from the “Oppression Tree” — a facilitation tool created by Emily Yee Clare, Becca Yu, Kira Page (from QPIRG), and Annie Preston (Rez Project Coordinator) as part of the Residence Anti-Oppression Project at McGill University. The tool, which visualises the roots, branches, and leaves of systemic oppression, is now widely used in anti-oppression workshops. For this project, the metaphor was inverted — transforming a framework for mapping oppression into one for mapping legacy, strength, and future commitment.
The Tree of Legacy
A visual, metaphor-driven evaluation method that maps the journey from barriers to commitments — turning a room full of post-it notes into a structured story of transformation.
Phase 0: Logic Model & Topic Mapping
Identify the “Evaluation Gap” this method fills. It is best suited for conferences and learning events where you need to measure mindset shift rather than simple satisfaction and mixed-stakeholder settings where power dynamics, unconscious bias, and institutional barriers need to surface safely.
Primary Objective
To surface hidden assumptions, capture core learning, and secure concrete future commitments — all within a single structured activity that generates rich qualitative evaluation data.
Key Stakeholders
Service users, carers, professionals, academics, students, decision-makers — anyone who attended the event being evaluated and whose perspective matters to the programme’s future.
Reflective Planning Questions — Ask Yourself Before You Begin:
- “What specific transformation am I trying to evidence — a shift in knowledge, attitude, or behaviour?”
- “Do my three tree questions (roots, trunk, branches) genuinely map onto the journey from ‘what was wrong’ to ‘what we now know’ to ‘what we will do differently’?”
- “Are the people in this room comfortable enough with each other to name uncomfortable truths out loud — and if not, how will the post-it format protect them?”
Part 1: The DIY Step-by-Step Method
Design the Tree
Before the event, prepare one large tree poster per table. Each poster should have a clear, pre-drawn tree outline showing three distinct zones: roots at the bottom, a solid trunk in the centre, and branches with leaves at the top. Assign a colour-coded post-it note to each zone — this colour system is your data architecture.
The Details:
- Action: Print or draw a bold tree silhouette on A1 or flipchart paper. Prepare three colours of post-it notes (e.g., pink for roots, yellow for trunk, green for branches). Add a fourth colour (e.g., blue) for general feedback or “wild card” observations. Place a facilitator cue card at each table listing the three questions and the colour key.
- Tip: Write your three evaluation questions before you choose the metaphor wording. The questions must map directly to what you are evaluating — the tree is just the scaffold. If the question does not serve your evaluation objectives, the prettiest poster in the world will not save you.
Plant the Roots
The roots represent what lies beneath the surface — the assumptions, stereotypes, and structural barriers that your participants have witnessed or held. This is the most emotionally loaded section and should come first, while the event content is still fresh and the room’s energy is high.
The Details:
- Action: Ask each participant to write their responses individually on the designated colour of post-it note (one thought per note) and stick them on the roots area of the poster. Allow 10–15 minutes. Encourage silence during writing to protect honest reflection.
- Tip: Frame the question carefully. You are asking people to name uncomfortable things — biases they have held, barriers they have seen, assumptions they have made. The post-it format matters here: writing privately before placing publicly lowers the social risk and increases honesty.
Build the Trunk
The trunk represents the core strength — the single most important principle, concept, or piece of learning that emerged from the event. Unlike the roots (individual responses), this section requires the whole table to discuss and agree on one definitive statement. This shift from individual reflection to group consensus is deliberate: it produces a higher quality of data and forces participants to articulate shared learning.
The Details:
- Action: Give each table one larger post-it note or card in the trunk colour. Ask the group to discuss and agree on one statement that captures the most important thing they are taking away. Place it on the trunk. Allow 10–15 minutes for discussion.
- Tip: Facilitators should steer tables away from generic platitudes. Push for specificity. If a table says “communication is important,” ask them: “Important how? Between whom? What changes if communication improves?” The trunk statement should be strong enough to hold everything above it up.
Grow the Branches
The branches and fruit represent future action — concrete, measurable steps that each participant will take in their own professional field within a defined timeframe. This is where the evaluation shifts from reflection to commitment. You are collecting pledges, not opinions.
The Details:
- Action: Ask each participant to write one concrete action they will take within the next six months on a green post-it note and place it on the branches. Encourage them to include their name and organisation if they are willing to be followed up with. Allow 10 minutes.
- Tip: The facilitator’s job here is to challenge vague aspirations. If someone writes “raise awareness,” push them: “How? With whom? By when?” The difference between a good tree and a great one is the specificity of its fruit. If you can follow up on the commitment in six months, it was specific enough.
Harvest the Data
The completed tree posters are your raw dataset. Each poster contains three layers of qualitative data — barriers, principles, and commitments — already colour-coded and spatially organised. Your job now is to collect, photograph, transcribe, and thematically analyse the post-it notes across all tables to identify recurring patterns.
The Details:
- Action: Photograph every completed tree. Collect all posters. Physically remove the post-it notes colour by colour, read each one aloud in your analysis team, and sort them into emerging themes (or “buckets”). Record the sorting conversation — your discussion about where a note belongs is itself valuable analytical data.
- Tip: This method generates data that sits between inductive and deductive analysis. You already know your evaluation questions (deductive), but the themes within each section should emerge from what participants actually wrote (inductive). Do not force notes into pre-determined categories. If a note does not fit, leave it as an outlier and report it honestly — outliers are often the most interesting findings.
Part 2: The Realist Pathway
Evidence Manifest
Documenting how the Mechanism was verified through specific data collection.
| Evidence Type | What it Proves | Data Source |
|---|---|---|
| Qualitative Root Post-it Notes (Barriers & Bias) |
Participants named specific assumptions (imposter syndrome, feeling undervalued), stereotypes (tokenism, tick-boxing, gendered representation of carers), and structural barriers (lack of funding, time, access, institutional inertia). The volume and specificity of responses proved that the method successfully surfaced uncomfortable truths that would not have appeared on a standard satisfaction survey. | Colour-coded post-it notes removed from the roots section of all completed tree posters, transcribed and sorted into themes through recorded group analysis. |
| Qualitative Trunk Consensus Statements (Core Learning) |
Tables independently arrived at overlapping core principles — equity, the value of lived experience, empathy and communication, and the principle of “nothing about us without us.” The convergence across separate groups proved genuine shared learning rather than facilitator-led agreement. | Single consensus statements on yellow post-it notes from each table’s trunk section, cross-referenced during thematic analysis. |
| Action Data Branch Commitments (Future Actions) |
Participants wrote specific, attributable commitments: integrating co-production into curricula, streamlining involvement across disciplines, setting up guidance for psychological safety, seeking out patient and carer involvement in research design. Several included contact details for follow-up — proving commitment beyond aspiration. | Green post-it notes from the branches section, with names and organisations where provided, collected for follow-up tracking. |
| Triangulation Digital Poll Data (Vevox) |
Quantitative polling data collected at intervals throughout the day corroborated the qualitative tree data — participants who identified the same barriers on post-its also selected matching responses in the digital polls, validating the thematic analysis. | Vevox digital polling platform responses collected at four time points during the event, compared against post-it note themes. |
Don’t just write a boring report. Use the stuff you actually made during the session.
Photograph the Journey
A completed tree poster is a visual argument. The density of pink post-its at the roots shows the weight of barriers. The clarity of the yellow trunk statement shows the quality of learning. The specificity of green branch notes shows the strength of commitment. One photograph tells the whole story.
Quote the Post-its
Post-it notes capture raw, unfiltered participant voice in a way that interview transcripts rarely match. The brevity is the strength — a six-word post-it carries more punch than a six-paragraph survey response. Use them as direct quotes in your report, attributed anonymously.
Map Roots to Branches
The most powerful finding in any Tree of Legacy evaluation is the direct connection between a barrier someone named at the roots and an action someone committed to at the branches. This root-to-branch pairing is your evidence of transformation — it shows the event did not just inform, it changed what people will do.
The “One-Sentence” Report
“Because we used The Tree of Legacy, participants in our learning event felt safe enough to name their biases out loud and commit to specific actions that will change how they work within six months.”