~AEA Public Library

Through this workshop, you will learn alternative strategies for modeling, evaluating, managing, and systematically improving the cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit of health and human services. We will extend social science research methods to measure costs and benefits at the level of the individual consumer. A quantitative understanding of what occurs between the "costs in" and "outcomes out" is enhanced by a model that distinguishes between performance of and participation in program procedures, and between desired and actual change in biopsychosocial processes responsible for program outcomes.

Together, we'll explore each step in understanding and improving relationships between resources used, procedures implemented, biopsychosocial processes altered or instilled, and outcomes produced. You'll draw upon examples from the instructor’s evaluation research in health, mental health, and substance abuse settings.

You will learn:

• Four reasons to include costs in quantitative and qualitative evaluation plans;
• Two alternative methods for measuring costs for use in cost-inclusive evaluations;
• Definitions and examples of 3 types of cost-inclusive evaluation;
• A method of measuring benefits and utilities;
• Two or more ethical issues in evaluations that include costs, and plausible resolutions for each.

Brian Yates has published over 70 articles, book chapters, and reviews - plus five books, most focusing on the application of cost-effectiveness analysis, cost-benefit analysis, or cost-utility analysis to the systematic evaluation and improvement of human services. He regularly facilitates workshops in the area of cost-inclusive evaluation at gatherings of professional associations and training programs.