Citation

Acosta JD, Ashwood JS, Schell TL, Cerully JL. Community Ment. Health J. 2019; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

RAND Corporation, 4570 Fifth Avenue, Suite 600, Pittsburgh, PA, 15218, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s10597-019-00419-3

PMID

31267297

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine the feasibility of conducting a cost-benefit evaluation of federally-funded media campaigns encouraging mental health help-seeking among United States military personnel and veterans. To calculate the necessary sample size for the evaluation, we obtained campaign costs, and determined the number of treatment seekers needed for the campaign to break even with its cost and the associated population change that an evaluation would need to detect. The sample size needed for an evaluation with 80% power was greater than the total population of U.S. military personnel and veterans. Given that the necessary sample size exceeds the population to be sampled, an appropriately powered outcome evaluation is not feasible. Other programs that would be cost effective with extremely small effect sizes should not be subject to underpowered and thus inaccurate empirical outcome evaluation.

Language: en

Keywords

Evaluation; Media campaign; Mental health; Military health; Veteran health