Individual Abstract within a Delegate Designed Symposium Clinical Oncology Society of Australia Annual Scientific Meeting 2022

Defining the social return on investment of telephone cancer information and support services (#108)

Nikki McCaffrey 1 2 , Jessica Bucholc 1 2 , Victoria White 3 , Daswin de Silva 4 , Patricia Livingston 5 , Katherine Lane 2 , Danielle Spence 2 , Claire Hutchinson 6
  1. Deakin Health Economics, Deakin University, Burwood, Victoria, Australia
  2. Cancer Council Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
  3. School of Psychology, Faculty of Health, Deakin University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
  4. Centre for Data Analytics & Cognition, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
  5. Office of the Exec Dean Health, Deakin University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
  6. Health & Social Care Economics Group, College of Nursing & Health Sciences, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

Many charities in Australia and internationally, provide Cancer Information and telephone Support Services (CISS) to address unmet information and psychological support needs of people living with cancer. Currently, there is no economic evidence about CISS to inform the future funding, direction and delivery of these services.

Social return on Investment (SROI) is an emerging form of cost-benefit analysis used to determine the broader economic and social value of programs and services. SROI determines the efficiency of an investment by comparing the value of the benefits to the resources invested, allows a wide range of outcomes to be considered and produces an easy to understand ratio of benefits to costs. The approach emphasises stakeholder engagement and outcomes meaningful to consumers, families, the community and wider society. Whilst there is growing international interest in this methodology for evaluating health and social services, there have been few Australian studies. Further, SROI globally has largely been conducted by consultants using the lowest levels of evidence.

This presentation will summarise the key stages of a SROI and describe nine studies generating empirical data to inform a comprehensive SROI analysis of Cancer Council Victoria’s CISS ‘131120’ service: theory of change (scoping); call data analysis using Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Understanding methods and focus groups (mapping); longitudinal survey of callers and non-callers (evidence of outcomes); financial proxies review and value games (valuing outcomes), Delphi study (establishing impact); ratio calculation (net benefit); and modelled analysis (service improvement). Results from the scoping and mapping stages will be presented. Initial findings suggest data on knowledge and empowerment levels, unmet needs, wellbeing and health service use are needed to inform a rigorous SROI of 131120. This novel research will inform funding and service design to improve health outcomes for people living with cancer and support their families and friends.