Session: Abstracts of Distinction: Supporting Public and Private Investments in Prevention and Early Intervention Through High-Quality, High-Utility Cost and Benefit-Cost Analysis (Society for Prevention Research 25th Annual Meeting)

Public and private investments in prevention are motivated in part by economic evaluation--cost, cost-effectiveness, and benefit-cost analysis--particularly when this information is coupled with evidence of intervention impact and interventions are aligned with policy priorities. Even with growing demand for economic evaluation, a 2016 consensus study, Advancing the Power of Economic Information to Inform Investments in Children Youth, and Families, by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, concluded that utility is threatened when economic evaluations do not adequately consider the context in which findings will be used or follow best practices for generating valid estimates.

In support of high-quality, high-utility economic evaluations capable of driving investments that build emotionally healthier communities, this panel will present cost and benefit-cost analyses of three evidence-based prevention and early intervention programs for children and families: Head Start REDI, which targets children at risk for problems in school, is an enhanced version of the federally funded Head Start program designed to increase school readiness by developing social-emotional and literacy skills. City Connects is a universal intervention that uses site-based service coordination to address the comprehensive needs of all students in a school. It has been implemented in several urban public school districts across the country. The Family Check-Up, which is supported by the federal Maternal and Child Home Visiting Program, is an intervention for high-risk children and families that addresses behavioral health problems through targeted interventions with parents. Each of these interventions can play an important role in building emotionally healthier communities–by strengthening parenting skills and parent-child relationships and addressing barriers to school success.

The papers have several policy-relevant implications. First, stakeholders need to understand the investments required for high-quality implementation capable of achieving outcomes shown in efficacy trials. Second, the papers show that decisions made in the research design, data collection, analysis, and reporting phases affect the quality and value of cost analysis and broader economic evaluation findings. Third, they highlight that clear and informative reporting fosters utility and appropriate use of cost and benefit-cost analysis findings. Together the papers help provide a roadmap for increasing the impact of economic evaluation of prevention and early intervention to motivate investment and quality implementation that fosters emotionally healthier communities. The discussant will comment on the papers from the perspective of impact and policy relevance.