Session: Cost Determination in Prevention – a Common Challenge for Economic Evaluations (Society for Prevention Research 22nd Annual Meeting)

The overall program costs represent a fundamental decision-making factor in the program implementation continuum, including the adoption and implementation decision as well as for making choices for sustaining the program. In addition, unbiased cost estimates facilitate valid inferences about the cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit of a particular program or service. Due to the lack of claims-based billing data in prevention, it is oftentimes unclear how comprehensive and accurate reported cost estimates are. For example, cost estimates that are entirely activity-based might ignore costs related to the management and administration of the program as well as indirect costs. On the other hand, cost estimates reported by the program developer might ignore cost aspects related to the life cycle of the program as well as geographic variation in implementation costs. This symposium presents a comprehensive conceptual model for estimating program costs that is grounded in a process evaluation perspective followed by two real-world examples representing the application of this conceptual model. The utility of the model will be discussed by a representative from the Administration for Children and Families.