Supported employment: cost-effectiveness across six European sites

Martin Knapp, Anita Patel, Claire Curran, Eric Latimer, Jocelyn Catty, Thomas Becker, Robert E. Drake, Angelo Fioritti, Reinhold Kilian, Christoph Lauber, Wulf Rössler, Toma Tomov, Jooske Van Busschbach, Adelina Comas-Herrera, Sarah White, Durk Wiersma and Tom Burns

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: A high proportion of people with severe mental health problems are unemployed but would like to work. Individual Placement and Support(IPS) offers a promising approach to establishing people in paid employment. In a randomized controlled trial across six European countries, we investigated the economic case for IPS for people with severe mental health problems compared to standard vocational rehabilitation. Individuals (n5312) were randomized to receive either IPS or standard vocational services and followed for 18 months. Service use and outcome data were collected. Cost-effectiveness analysis was conducted with two primary outcomes: additional days worked in competitive settings and additional percentage of individuals who worked at least 1 day. Analyses distinguished country effects. A partial cost-benefit analysis was also conducted. IPS produced better outcomes than alternative vocational services at lower cost overall to the health and social care systems. This pattern also held in disaggregated analyses for five of the six European sites. The inclusion of imputed values for missing cost data supported these findings. IPS would be viewed as more cost-effective than standard vocational services. Further analysis demonstrated cost-benefit arguments for IPS. Compared to standard vocational rehabilitation services, IPS is, therefore, probably cost-saving and almost certainly more cost-effective as a way to help people with severe mental health problems into competitive employment.

Keywords: supported employment; cost-effectiveness; severe mental illness; economics; work (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J01 R14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013-02
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published in World Psychiatry, February, 2013, 12(1), pp. 60-68. ISSN: 1723-8617

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