Overview of Domain 6
Domain 6 aims to provide support in establishing what data are required both to set up a screening programme and to monitor and evaluate the programme for quality improvement. It will also be important to consider how data will be standardised, governed and potentially shared between different screening sites. In addition, this domain can be used to help determine potential benchmarks against which to evaluate the programme’s success and its impact in the population.
Assessment framework key questions
In this domain, metrics are designed to assess:
Data management systems and access
- what types of data and levels of access will be needed to support the set-up of an organised screening programme, including sharing agreements with existing data management systems within the country or region
- how these data will be standardised and shared between screening centres and external providers, including how the overall data management system will fulfil these needs
Programme monitoring and evaluation
- the planning required to monitor the screening programme, including potential benchmarks against which the programme can be evaluated for its impact on population health
The policy brief
Robust data are key to evaluating the success of a screening programme and determining its true impact on population health. This brief provides examples of how different health systems have approached this.
Further reading
- The Cancer Screening in Five Continents project – CanScreen5 (International Agency for Research on Cancer)
- Lung Cancer Screening Registry: measures (American College of Radiology, 2023)
- The integral role of the electronic health record and tracking software in the implementation of lung cancer screening – a call to action for developers (Fathi et al. 2020)
- Plan and deliver a screening project: How do I evaluate a screening project? (Cancer Council Victoria)
- NHS Cancer Programme: An introduction to approaches to evaluation (Public Health England, 2022)
- The evaluation of cancer screening: concepts and outcome measures (Duffy & Smith 2020)