| Abstract:
You can do a "cost study:" you can understand, measure, and often discover ways to improve: a) costs, b) effectiveness, c) benefits, d) cost-effectiveness analysis, and e) cost-benefit analysis in mental health or other human services. This demonstration begins with a plain-English orientation to definitions of costs, effectiveness, benefits, cost-effectiveness, and cost-benefit. Methods of 1) measuring and 2) analyzing each of these are illustrated with examples from the presenter's research in child management training, and substance abuse prevention programs for children in elementary school, and mental health services. A quantitative understanding of what occurs between the "costs in" and "outcomes out" is enhanced by a model that distinguishes between performance of and participation in program procedures, and between desired and actual change in biopsychosocial processes responsible for program outcomes. References and web sites are provided for further learning.
Examples of each step in understanding and improving relationships between resources used, procedures implemented, biopsychosocial processes altered or instilled, and outcomes produced are drawn from the instructor's evaluation research in health, mental health, and substance abuse settings.
In addition, a variety of studies are reanalyzed to illustrate how cost-procedure-process-outcome analysis enhances the applicability of basic and applied research to the systematic understanding and management of human service systems.
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