Assessing the Costs, Benefits, Cost-Effectiveness, and Cost-Benefit of Psychological Assessment: We Should, We Can, and Here's How.

Abstract

To the extent that assessment improves the effectiveness of treatment, prevention, or other services, it can be said to be effective. If an assessment is as effective as alternatives for improving treatment and less costly, it can be said to be cost-effective. If that improvement in the effectiveness of the service is monetary or monetizable, the assessment can be judged beneficial. And, if the sum of monetary and monetizable benefits of assessment exceeds the sum of the costs of treatment, the assessment can be said to be cost-beneficial. An overview of cost-related issues is followed by practical strategies that researchers and administrators can use to measure incremental costs, incremental effectiveness, and incremental benefits of adding psychological assessments to other psychological interventions.

A Method to Optimize the Response Range While Maintaining Rorschach Comprehensive System Validity

“…Other implications are monetary, such as the cost of administering the test and the examiner's time and resources, all of which increase substantially when the test must be readministered due to an insufficient number of responses. The issues of cost effectiveness and cost benefit are becoming increasingly important in psychological assessment as clinicians are justifying their role in clinical decision making (Yates & Taub, 2003). Although this study was conducted with a sample prone to frequent brief records, the issues are similar with overly long records, which tend to lack specificity and positive predictive power, are time consuming to administer and score, and often are frustrating or exhausting for both the examiner and client.…”

A study of the effects of innovative and efficient practices on the performance of hospice care organizations

“…To the extent that a measure is relatively easy and costfree to gather, it can be said to have practical significance if it aids in the prediction of the outcome under study (Yates & Taub, 2003). Practical significance can be informed through an assessment of incremental validity (Hunsley & Meyer, 2003).…”

Introduction to the Special Issue: Toward Implementing Physiological Measures in Clinical Child and Adolescent Assessments

“…Second, current instruments often require extensive training and supervision for administration, scoring, and interpretation (e.g., structured interviews and standardized clinical tasks; Mash & Hunsley, 2005), thus resulting in considerable time and material costs (see also Yates & Taub, 2003). Third, for any one patient, a number of biological, psychological, and socio-cultural factors may explain their mental health concerns, which often manifest as maladaptive reactions to environmental circumstances or social contexts (e.g., Cicchetti, 1984;Luthar, Cicchetti, & Becker, 2000;Sanislow et al, 2010).…”