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Health Education Research Advance Access published online on October 27, 2006
Health Education Research, doi:10.1093/her/cyl127
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© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
Received June 29, 2005
Accepted September 11, 2006

Original article

The costs of a community-based intervention to promote maternal health

Lisa Gold 1 {dagger}, Alan Shiell 2 *, Penelope Hawe 3, Therese Riley 4 {dagger}, Bree Rankin 5 {dagger}, and Penny Smithers 6

1 School of Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria 3086, Australia
2 Department of Community Health Sciences, Calgary, T2N 4N1, Canada
3 School of Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria 3086, Australia; Department of Community Health Sciences, Calgary, T2N 4N1, Canada; Markin Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, T2N 4N1, Canada
4 Markin Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, T2N 4N1, Canada; Centre for Health and Society, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia
5 Programme Evaluation Unit, School of Population Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia
6 Victorian Perinatal Data Collection Unit, Department of Human Services, GPO Box 4003, Melbourne, Victoria 3001, Australia

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Alan Shiell, E-mail: ashiell{at}ucalgary.ca


  Abstract

The costs of community-level interventions are rarely reported, although such insights are needed if intervention research is to be useful to practitioners seeking to understand what might be involved in replicating interventions in different contexts. We report the costs of a 2-year community-based intervention to promote the health of recent mothers in Victoria, Australia. Program of Resources, Information and Support for Mothers was an integrated programme of primary care and community-based strategies. It had health care professional training, health education and community development components as well as an emphasis on creating ‘mother-friendly’ environments. Costs included the programme costs [primarily the salaries of the community development officers (CDO) in the field] and also ‘induced’ costs that relate to the CDOs' successes in attracting additional resources to the intervention from the local community. The total cost averaged A$272 490 per rural community and A$313 900 per urban community, equivalent to A$172.40 and A$128.70 per mother, respectively. For every A$10 of public funds initially invested in the project, the CDOs were able to attract a further A$1-2 worth of local resources, predominantly in the form of volunteer time or donated services.

{dagger}Formerly at the Centre for the Study of Mothers' & Children's Health, La Trobe University


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