Evaluation support for the Latrobe Health Innovation Zone Early Detection and Screening Including Tobacco Initiative

The Latrobe Health Innovation Zone (LHIZ) was established in response to the Hazelwood Mine Inquiry and aims to improve the health and wellbeing of the Latrobe community. Among many activities in the zone, Gippsland Primary Health Network (GPHN) has established a project that aims to: reduce smoking rates, improve participation in population-based cancer screening programs (breast, bowel and cervical) and improve screening for other diseases through opportunistic encounters within the local health system. Working together with Larter Consulting, HMA was engaged to provide evaluation advice and support to the GPHN LHIZ Project team. Key tasks included:

• support to refine the program logic and co-design a meta-evaluation framework
• support to identify key sources of data (quantitative and qualitative), appropriate data collection time points and key performance indicators for monitoring throughout
• capacity building workshops with GPHN staff on evaluation implementation and techniques.

The project was completed in June 2019. Subsequently, HMA was engaged in collaboration with Larter Consulting to undertake the meta-evaluation of the LHIZ Early Detection and Screening Including Tobacco Initiative based on desktop analysis of information / data collected throughout the initiative and publicly available data. The meta-evaluation report was prepared to meet the needs of various stakeholders including the PNH, members of the Project Control Group and the Victorian Department of Health. This subsequent work was undertaken from July 2022 to February 2023.