A social return on investment analysis of the ENJOY Seniors Exercise Park IMP-ACT project: improving older people’s health through physical activity

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OBJECTIVE: To establish the cost of implementation, as well as the social return-on-investment, when scaling the Seniors Exercise Park program across multiple local government areas. METHODS: Seniors Exercise Parks are an age-friendly active space. Implementation requires both creating and activating the park (i.e., running community programs that require leader training, community engagement, resource development and marketing). For the Social return on investment (SROI) analysis, the cost of implementation data (purchase, installation, programs) for six Seniors Exercise Parks in Victoria, Australia, was collected continually from the participating councils, over a 15-month time horizon (3-month baseline period; and 12-month intervention and maintenance period). Social return data was based on the difference in health and social care utilisation, as well as quality of life, leisure and work participation, in park users before (baseline period) and after (maintenance period) implementation of the six Seniors Exercise Parks. The cost of implementation was compared to the social return, to determine the SROI for the Seniors Exercise Parks establishment and activation per participant. The SROI analysis took a societal perspective and costs are presented in AUD$2024 with earlier costs inflated. RESULTS: Over 15 months the cost of implementation for the six Seniors Exercise Parks was $1,191,704, representing an average cost of $198,617 (SD $86,551) per park. The total investment cost ($1,191,704) was divided by the total number of older people who participated in a Seniors Exercise Park program over 12-months (n = 883) to give an average investment cost of $1,350 per person. Over the first 12-months of Seniors Exercise Park programs, the per participant social return was $3,394; the investment was $1,350; indicating a SROI of $2.50 for every $1.00 spent. CONCLUSION: From a broad societal perspective, state-based scaling of the Seniors Exercise Park program, incorporating the creation and activation of age-friendly active spaces across multiple local government areas, may provide a strong return on investment. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This economic evaluation was prospectively registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry. Trial number ACTRN12622001256763. Date registered 20/09/2022.

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