TY - JOUR
T1 - Cost assessment of a school-based mental health screening and treatment program in New York City
AU - Chatterji, Pinka
AU - Caffray, Christine M.
AU - Crowe, Maura
AU - Freeman, Linda
AU - Jensen, Peter
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from The Carmel Hill Fund. We thank the following people for providing data, helpful comments, and other assistance: James Hartman, David Rosenthal, Katherine Morris, Janelle Dierkins, Mary Rivera, Prudence Fisher, and participants at
PY - 2004/9
Y1 - 2004/9
N2 - Although school-based mental health screening and treatment programs have been proposed as a viable means of reaching youth with unmet mental health needs, no previous reports have attempted to comprehensively document the costs of such programs. The purposes of this report are (1) to estimate the cost of a school-based mental health screening and treatment program in a real-world school setting, and (2) to outline the methods and procedures that should be employed by future investigators to explore the costs of such programs. The program, located in a middle school in a low-income, largely Hispanic neighborhood in New York City, aimed to screen all students in Grades 6-8 for anxiety, depression, and substance use disorders. Most students in need of treatment were referred to the school-based treatment program, where social workers offered individual and group counseling. Economic evaluation methods and a before/after study design were used to assess the costs of the screening and treatment programs for 3 years of operation. Costs were estimated from the societal perspective, which includes all measurable program costs regardless of who bears the costs, and the school perspective, which includes only costs that would be borne directly by a school operating these programs. Data primarily came from administrative records and staff interviews. The total cost ranged from $106,125 to $172,018 for the screening program and from $420,077 to $468,320 for the treatment program. The cost of the screening program ranged from $149 to $234 per student and the cost of the treatment program ranged from $90 to $115 per session. These costs were estimated from the perspective of society. Applying economic cost analysis methods in a real-world school setting is challenging, but the process can generate useful estimates. Cost analyses and cost-effectiveness studies are needed in this area.
AB - Although school-based mental health screening and treatment programs have been proposed as a viable means of reaching youth with unmet mental health needs, no previous reports have attempted to comprehensively document the costs of such programs. The purposes of this report are (1) to estimate the cost of a school-based mental health screening and treatment program in a real-world school setting, and (2) to outline the methods and procedures that should be employed by future investigators to explore the costs of such programs. The program, located in a middle school in a low-income, largely Hispanic neighborhood in New York City, aimed to screen all students in Grades 6-8 for anxiety, depression, and substance use disorders. Most students in need of treatment were referred to the school-based treatment program, where social workers offered individual and group counseling. Economic evaluation methods and a before/after study design were used to assess the costs of the screening and treatment programs for 3 years of operation. Costs were estimated from the societal perspective, which includes all measurable program costs regardless of who bears the costs, and the school perspective, which includes only costs that would be borne directly by a school operating these programs. Data primarily came from administrative records and staff interviews. The total cost ranged from $106,125 to $172,018 for the screening program and from $420,077 to $468,320 for the treatment program. The cost of the screening program ranged from $149 to $234 per student and the cost of the treatment program ranged from $90 to $115 per session. These costs were estimated from the perspective of society. Applying economic cost analysis methods in a real-world school setting is challenging, but the process can generate useful estimates. Cost analyses and cost-effectiveness studies are needed in this area.
KW - Cost analysis
KW - Costs
KW - Economic evaluation
KW - Mental health
KW - School-based
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U2 - 10.1023/B:MHSR.0000036489.50470.cb
DO - 10.1023/B:MHSR.0000036489.50470.cb
M3 - Article
C2 - 15473102
AN - SCOPUS:4344637609
SN - 1522-3434
VL - 6
SP - 155
EP - 166
JO - Mental Health Services Research
JF - Mental Health Services Research
IS - 3
ER -