A microcosting approach for planning and implementing community-based mental health prevention program: what does it...

Area of Science:

• Community mental health
• Public health interventions
• Health services research

Background:

• Community-based mental health programs require burdensome cost estimations.
• Healthy Minds Healthy Communities (HMHC) is a novel initiative using the Community Initiated Care (CIC) model.
• HMHC aims to build community resilience and mental health support, especially for COVID-19 impacted populations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To retrospectively document the first-year costs of planning and implementing HMHC.
• To share methods for costing a multi-level, multi-intervention program in diverse communities.
• To provide an example for estimating costs of mental health promotion and prevention programs.

Main Methods:

• Collected cost data via semi-structured interviews with key staff during the first year.
• Calculated costs per activity, grouped by project category, and identified cost drivers.
• Validated estimates through literature review and conducted sensitivity analyses.

Main Results:

• First-year cost for HMHC development and implementation was $1,382,669 (2022 USD).
• Major cost domains included project management ($135,822), community engagement ($364,216), and design/execution ($756,934).
• Key cost drivers were staff hiring/onboarding, community sessions, communications, and intervention delivery.

Conclusions:

• Participatory community-based mental health programs demand substantial upfront investment, particularly in human capital.
• Developing strategic partnerships is crucial for mitigating program costs.
• This study offers a cost-estimation framework for similar initiatives.