TY - JOUR

T1 - Dementia and Imagination

T2 - A social return on investment analysis framework for art activities for people living with dementia

AU - Jones, Carys

AU - Windle, Gill

AU - Edwards, Rhiannon Tudor

N1 - Dementia and Imagination was funded as “Dementia and imagination: connecting communities and developing well-being through socially engaged visual arts practice,” Grant Ref: AH/K00333X/1, by the AHRC and ESRC as a part of the Cross-Council Connected Communities Programme.

PY - 2020/2

Y1 - 2020/2

N2 - Background and Objectives: Arts activities may benefit people living with dementia. Social return on investment (SROI)analysis, a form of cost-benefit analysis, has the potential to capture the value of arts interventions, but few rigorous SROIanalyses exist. This article presents a framework for an SROI analysis.Research Design and Methods: One hundred twenty-five people with mild to severe dementia and 146 caregivers wererecruited to the Dementia and Imagination study across residential care homes, a hospital and community venues inEngland and Wales for a 12-week visual arts program. Quantitative and qualitative data on quality of life, support, andprogram perceptions were obtained through interviews. SROI was undertaken to explore the wider social value of the artsactivities.Results: An input of £189,498 ($279,320/€257,338) to deliver the groups created a social value of £980,717($1,445,577/€1,331,814). This equates to a base case scenario of £/$/€5.18 of social value generated for every £/$/€1invested. Sensitivity analysis produced a range from £/$/€3.20 to £/$/€6.62 per £/$/€1, depending on assumptions aboutbenefit materialization; financial value of participants’ time; and length of sustained benefit.Discussion: To our knowledge, this is the first study applying SROI to an arts intervention for people with dementia. Artsbasedactivities appear to provide a positive SROI under a range of assumptions.Implications: Decision makers are increasingly seeking wider forms of economic evidence surrounding the costs and benefitsof activities. This analysis is useful for service providers at all levels, from local government to care homes.

AB - Background and Objectives: Arts activities may benefit people living with dementia. Social return on investment (SROI)analysis, a form of cost-benefit analysis, has the potential to capture the value of arts interventions, but few rigorous SROIanalyses exist. This article presents a framework for an SROI analysis.Research Design and Methods: One hundred twenty-five people with mild to severe dementia and 146 caregivers wererecruited to the Dementia and Imagination study across residential care homes, a hospital and community venues inEngland and Wales for a 12-week visual arts program. Quantitative and qualitative data on quality of life, support, andprogram perceptions were obtained through interviews. SROI was undertaken to explore the wider social value of the artsactivities.Results: An input of £189,498 ($279,320/€257,338) to deliver the groups created a social value of £980,717($1,445,577/€1,331,814). This equates to a base case scenario of £/$/€5.18 of social value generated for every £/$/€1invested. Sensitivity analysis produced a range from £/$/€3.20 to £/$/€6.62 per £/$/€1, depending on assumptions aboutbenefit materialization; financial value of participants’ time; and length of sustained benefit.Discussion: To our knowledge, this is the first study applying SROI to an arts intervention for people with dementia. Artsbasedactivities appear to provide a positive SROI under a range of assumptions.Implications: Decision makers are increasingly seeking wider forms of economic evidence surrounding the costs and benefitsof activities. This analysis is useful for service providers at all levels, from local government to care homes.

U2 - 10.1093/geront/gny147

DO - 10.1093/geront/gny147

M3 - Article

VL - 60

SP - 112

EP - 123

JO - Gerontologist

JF - Gerontologist

SN - 0016-9013

IS - 1

ER -