Short Abstract

This session shares learning from a developmental evaluation of the £2m Tech for Better Care Programme, showing how theory-based approaches and real-time evidence informed programme adaptation, strengthened local evaluation capacity, and advanced innovative evaluation practice.

Description

This presentation will share learning on the role of a developmental evaluation approach in informing programmatic changes and decision-making within the Tech for Better Care Programme.

The Tech for Better Care Programme is a £2 million innovation programme exploring the potential for using digital technology to enable proactive and relational care at home and in the community. The programme adopted a ‘test and adapt’ approach, whereby funding was provided to teams develop, test and pilot innovation approaches to tech-enabled service change between October 2023 and March 2026. This was an innovative programme design developed at the Health Foundation, which positioned evidence-based iteration at the core of its way of working.

During the programme, a process and impact evaluation was undertaken to capture the programme process and experience, as well as the impact of the local interventions implemented. Specifically, a developmental evaluation was chosen to enable iterative development of the funded programme and local interventions in real-time using evaluation evidence and learning. This was underpinned by the Contribution Analysis theory-based evaluation methodology, which focused on testing the validity of and strength of support for eight core programme hypotheses in the Theory of Change. Data triangulation was also a characteristic of the evaluation methodology, with local project impact and learning data (e.g., on user experience and outcomes) combined with workshop and interview data collected at the programme level to generate findings. Evaluation activities also involved working closely with local implementing teams who were conducting local evaluations to feed into decision-making at the intervention and programme level. Thus, the evaluation also sought to directly encourage the development of evaluation practice and evidence use in local teams.

Our presentation will begin with a concise outline of the Tech for Better Care Programme, including its Theory of Change and evaluation approach. Thereafter, we will focus on the key learning obtained by the programme funder, evaluation team and local teams on the programme. This will allow attendees to learn about:

- How to apply theory-based evaluation approaches to support iterative developmental programmes;

- The role of different programme actors in effectively using evaluation to bring about programme change;

- The opportunities and challenges inherent in an iterative developmental programme;

- Practical tips for effectively embedding evaluation at different levels of decision-making.

Therefore, the session offers broad appeal to the evaluation community, but most notably to those interested in developmental evaluation, contribution analysis, and the use of evaluation and evidence in the development of digital intervention in healthcare.