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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Melissa Brodowski, MSW, MPH, Office on Child Abuse and Neglect, Children's Bureau, ACYF, ACF, DHHS, 1250 Maryland Avenue SW, 8th Floor, #8127, Washington, DC 20024, 202-205-2629, melissa.brodowski@acf.hhs.gov, Jill Filene, MPH, James Bell Associates, 1001 19th Street, North Suite 1500, Arlington, VA 22209, and Phaedra Corso, PhD, Department of Health Administration, Biostatistics and Epidemiology, University of Georgia, College of Public Health, N125 Paul Coverdell Center, Athens, GA 30602.

Background: The Family Connections Program (FC) has been found efficacious in preventing and reducing child abuse and neglect. Little is known about programmatic costs, effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness of the FC program.

Objectives: This preliminary research examines resource costs required to implement FC and to compare costs with process outcomes. This information will inform policy makers and child abuse prevention experts on costs and resources necessary for implementing FC, and provide a basis for conducting cost-effectiveness analysis.

Methods: We conducted a cost outcome analysis of pre-implementation costs, first year implementation costs, and process outcomes of FC across eight sites. Costs included valuing personnel, travel, supplies, and rent necessary for FC. Personnel costs were further subcategorized. Cost data was reported quarterly and verified through interviews. Process outcomes, such as referrals or completions of FC were reported through semi-annual submissions.

Results: The average cost per FC family referral ranged from $2,319 to $8,906. The average cost per FC family receiving services ranged from $4,238 to $33,742. At the end of the first year of implementation, pre-implementation costs as a percentage of total costs ranged from 23% to 42% of the total costs of the Family Connections program.

Conclusion: Although too early to evaluate cost-effectiveness of the FC replication, this research provides lessons learned about how to collect and analyze cost data for prevention programs. Costs vary across sites, but it is too early to determine whether the amount spent per family will be correlated with program outcomes.

Learning Objectives:

• • Identify the programmatic costs of the Family Connections program;
• • Understand lessons learned from conducting a cost analysis of prevention activities
• • Understand the role of economic evaluation in violence interventions

Keywords: Economic Analysis, Community Programs

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation