Economic evaluation of family-based therapies for children and adolescents: what do we know?

Purpose: This paper provides a review of the evidence regarding the economic evaluation of family therapy and family-based therapies when delivered to children and adolescents. Methods: Eight databases were searched for published studies and grey literature. We included studies where both costs and effectiveness were evaluated. Due to the substantial differences in interventions, setting, disease area, and sample, we conducted a narrative summary. Results: Sixteen studies were included in the review. Most studies undertook a cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA; n = 14) and among those, 1 study additionally carried out a cost-utility analysis. Four studies evaluated the cost-benefit analysis (CBA) of family based intervention, two studies only carried out a CBA while the 2 other studies included both CBA and CEA. The review showed the broad types of family-based interventions and the range of psychological disorders and addictions for which they can be used. Family-based interventions focusing on children and adolescents’ health disorders were found to be cost beneficial for all the studies that used CBA, and to be cost effective in two-thirds of the studies that used CEA. Conclusions: Recommendations resulting from the review are that future research should include health care costs beyond costs to the health care sector related to delivering the therapy and the spillover effects to the rest of the family, and should consider cost and effectiveness over a longer time horizon.