The Cost of Child Behaviour Therapy: The First Step to Demonstrating Cost-effectiveness

There has been extensive debate over the last three decades about which professional groups should receive government-funded rebates in the mental health field. Cognitive-behaviour therapists appear to be in the best position to demonstrate clinical efficacy, but have failed to demonstrate cost-effectiveness of cognitive-behaviour therapy. There is a need to demonstrate the cost of behaviour therapy as the first step in determining the cost-effectiveness of behaviour therapy compared to the traditional (medical-based) interventions. Using archival data from a university-based psychology clinic specialising in cognitive-behavioural interventions with child and adolescent problems, the present research determined the cost of successful treatment programs with the clinic's major referral areas: nocturnal enuresis, behaviour management, and education-based problems. Analysing 77 cases, it was found that there were significant between group differences in the number and total duration of face-to-face interviews, in the number of other contacts between therapist and client, in total therapist time, and in the estimated average cost of cases. There emerged different treatment patterns for each clinical problem, and these were reflected in costing. A number of research and methodological issues are explored. Implications for future research on cost-effectiveness and the subsequent collection of comparative data across clinics and a variety of clinical problem areas are discussed.