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Program maturity and cost analysis in the evaluation of primary prevention programs
Author(s) -
Baker Frank,
Perkins David V.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.585
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1520-6629
pISSN - 0090-4392
DOI - 10.1002/1520-6629(198401)12:1<31::aid-jcop2290120105>3.0.co;2-7
Subject(s) - primary prevention , maturity (psychological) , mental health , risk analysis (engineering) , program evaluation , cost–benefit analysis , medicine , psychology , business , environmental health , operations management , process management , political science , engineering , psychiatry , developmental psychology , disease , pathology , public administration , law
Primary prevention has been growing as a major initiative in mental health, and to avoid overpromising its benefits, primary prevention programs must be evaluated in a systematic and effective fashion. Information on the developmental maturity and the direct costs of a program is very useful in assessing its merit, even if definitive findings on incidence reduction are not available for many years. This paper outlines the steps by which information on a program's developmental maturity and direct costs can be obtained, and discusses the implications of these steps for primary prevention policy.