This paper follows from a previous paper which described the basic approaches to economic evaluation of health programs. The discussion in this paper builds and discusses the theoretical and practical concerns felt by practitioners and analysts about economic evaluations in mental health care. Two examples of economic evaluations that compare the costs of hospital care and community-based care are presented to illustrate some of the limitations of economic evaluation. Discussion also focuses on the difficulties involved in developing and conducting economic analyses in the mental health field, as well as problems faced in trying to generalize from one study setting to others.
References
1.
FentonFR, TessierL, StrueningEL. A comparative trial of home and hospital psychiatric care: one year follow-up. Arch Gen Psychiatry1979; 36: 1073–1079.
2.
FentonFR, TessierL, ContandriopoulosAP, A comparative trial of home and hospital psychiatric treatment: financial costs. Can J Psychiatry1982; 27(3): 177–187.
3.
WeisbrodBA, SteinLI, TestMA. Alternative to mental hospital treatment. II: economic benefit-cost analysis. Arch Gen Psychiatry1980; 37: 400–405.
4.
DickeyB, McGuireTG, CannonNL, Mental health cost models: refinements and applications. Med Care1986; 24: 857–867.
5.
WebbFJ, CampbellDT, SchwartzRD, Non reactive measures in the social sciences, Second Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1981.
