Background Mental health problems are common and place a burden on the individual as well as on societal resources. Despite the existence of evidence-based treatments, access to treatment is often prevented or delayed due to insufficient health care resources. Effective internet-based self-help interventions have the potential to reduce the risk for mental health problems, to successfully bridge waiting time for face-to-face treatment and to address inequities in access. However, little is known about the cost-effectiveness of such interventions. This paper describes the study protocol for the economic evaluation of the studies that form the ICare programme of internet-based interventions for the prevention and treatment of a range of mental health problems. Methods An overarching work package within the ICare programme was developed to assess the cost-effectiveness of the internet-based interventions alongside the clinical trials. There are two underlying tasks in the ICare economic evaluation. First, to develop schedules that generate equivalent and comparable information on use of services and supports across seven countries taking part in clinical trials of different interventions and second, to estimate unit costs for each service and support used. From these data the cost per person will be estimated by multiplying each participant's use of each service by the unit cost for that service. Additionally, productivity losses will be estimated. This individual level of cost data matches the level of outcome data used in the clinical trials. Following the analyses of service use and costs data, joint analysis of costs and outcomes will be undertaken to provide findings on the relative cost-effectiveness of the interventions, taking both a public sector and a societal perspective. These analyses use a well-established framework, the Production of Welfare approach, and standard methods and techniques underpinned by economic theory. Discussion/conclusion Existing research tends to support the effectiveness of internet-based interventions, but there is little information on their cost-effectiveness compared to ‘treatment as usual’. The economic evaluation of ICare interventions will add considerably to this evidence base.

中文翻译：

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评估 ICare 基于互联网的干预措施（协议）的成本和成本效益。

背景 心理健康问题很常见，给个人和社会资源都带来了负担。尽管存在循证治疗，但由于医疗保健资源不足，往往会阻止或延迟获得治疗。有效的基于互联网的自助干预有可能降低心理健康问题的风险，成功缩短面对面治疗的等待时间，并解决获取不公平的问题。然而，人们对此类干预措施的成本效益知之甚少。本文描述了对构成 ICare 计划的研究进行经济评估的研究协议，该计划是基于互联网的干预措施，用于预防和治疗一系列心理健康问题。方法 开发了 ICare 计划中的总体工作包，以评估基于互联网的干预措施与临床试验的成本效益。ICare 经济评估有两个基本任务。首先，制定时间表，生成关于参与不同干预措施临床试验的七个国家的服务和支持使用的等效和可比信息；其次，估算所使用的每项服务和支持的单位成本。根据这些数据，每人的成本将通过将每个参与者对每项服务的使用乘以该服务的单位成本来估算。此外，还将估计生产力损失。这种单独的成本数据水平与临床试验中使用的结果数据水平相匹配。根据对服务使用和成本数据的分析，将对成本和结果进行联合分析，以提供关于干预措施的相对成本效益的调查结果，同时从公共部门和社会的角度进行分析。这些分析使用了完善的框架、福利生产方法以及以经济理论为基础的标准方法和技术。讨论/结论 现有研究倾向于支持基于互联网的干预措施的有效性，但与“照常治疗”相比，它们的成本效益信息很少。对 Icare 干预措施的经济评估将大大增加这一证据基础。这些分析使用了完善的框架、福利生产方法以及以经济理论为基础的标准方法和技术。讨论/结论 现有研究倾向于支持基于互联网的干预措施的有效性，但与“照常治疗”相比，它们的成本效益信息很少。对 Icare 干预措施的经济评估将大大增加这一证据基础。这些分析使用了完善的框架、福利生产方法以及以经济理论为基础的标准方法和技术。讨论/结论 现有研究倾向于支持基于互联网的干预措施的有效性，但与“照常治疗”相比，它们的成本效益信息很少。对 Icare 干预措施的经济评估将大大增加这一证据基础。