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Methodological Considerations in Service Use Assessment for Children and Youth with Mental Health Conditions; Issues for Economic Evaluation

Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research volume 42, pages 296–308 (2015)Cite this article

Abstract

Economic evaluations are increasingly used in decision-making. Accurate measurement of service use is critical to economic evaluation. This qualitative study, based on expert interviews, aims to identify best approaches to service use measurement for child mental health conditions, and to identify problems in current methods. Results suggest considerable agreement on strengths (e.g., availability of accurate instruments to measure service use) and weaknesses, (e.g., lack of unit prices for services outside the health sector) or alternative approaches to service use measurement. Experts also identified some unresolved problems, for example the lack of uniform definitions for some mental health services.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Ceilidh Nichols (USA) and IngeDerhaag (NL) for their help transcribing the interviews. This project is indirectly funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development. Grant Number 200210002.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Medical Technology Assessment (KEMTA), Maastricht University Medical Centre MUMC+/CAPHRI School for Public Health and Primary Care, Maastricht University, Postbus 5800, 6202 AZ, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    M. Woolderink

  2. Kaiser Permanente, Center for Health Research, Portland, OR, USA

    F. L. Lynch

  3. Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Medical Technology Assessment (KEMTA), Maastricht UMC+, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    A. D. I. van Asselt

  4. Personal Social Services Research Unit, London School of Economics and Political Sciences, London, UK

    J. Beecham

  5. Department of Health Services Research, Maastricht University/CAPHRI School for Public Health and Primary Care, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    S. M. A. A. Evers & A. T. G. Paulus

  6. Department of General Practice, CAPHRI School for Public Health and Primary Care, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    C. P. van Schayck

Authors
  1. M. Woolderink
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  2. F. L. Lynch
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  3. A. D. I. van Asselt
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  4. J. Beecham
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  5. S. M. A. A. Evers
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  6. A. T. G. Paulus
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  7. C. P. van Schayck
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to M. Woolderink.

Appendix

Appendix

See Tables 4, 5 and 6.

Table 4 Overview characteristics interviewed expert sample
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Table 5 Interview topic list 2009
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Table 6 Structured open-end questions expert interviews, 2011
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Woolderink, M., Lynch, F.L., van Asselt, A.D.I. et al. Methodological Considerations in Service Use Assessment for Children and Youth with Mental Health Conditions; Issues for Economic Evaluation. Adm Policy Ment Health 42, 296–308 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-014-0570-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-014-0570-4

Keywords

  • Service use research
  • Economic evaluation
  • Qualitative research
  • Child and adolescent mental health
  • International expert-interviews