Cost-effectiveness of online positive psychology: Randomized controlled trial |
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| Authors: | Linda Bolier Cristina Majo Filip Smit Gerben J Westerhof Merel Haverman Jan A Walburg |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Public Mental Health, Trimbos Institute (Netherlands Institute of Mental Health and Addiction), P.O. Box 725, 3500 AS Utrecht, The Netherlands;2. Department of Psychology, Health and Technology, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands;3. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands;4. Department of Clinical Psychology, EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands;5. Department of Psychology, Health and Technology, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands;6. Innovation Centre of Mental Health and Technology I.COM, Trimbos Institute (Netherlands Institute of Mental Health and Addiction), Utrecht, The Netherlands;7. Board of Management, Trimbos Institute (Netherlands Institute of Mental Health and Addiction), Utrecht, The Netherlands |
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| Abstract: | As yet, no evidence is available about the cost-effectiveness of positive psychological interventions. When offered via the Internet, these interventions may be particularly cost-effective, because they are highly scalable and do not rely on scant resources such as therapists’ time. Alongside a randomized controlled trial of an online positive psychological intervention, a health-economic evaluation was conducted. Mild to moderately depressed adults seeking self-help and recruited in the general population were randomly assigned to the intervention group (n?=?143) and a waitlisted usual care group (n?=?141). Improved clinical outcomes were achieved in the intervention group (at least for depression) at higher costs. When outliers (the top 2.5%, n?=?5 in intervention group, n?=?2 in control group) were removed, cost-effectiveness was increased considerably. For positive psychology, economic evaluations may be a means to nudge policy decision-makers towards placing positive psychological interventions on the health agenda. |
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| Keywords: | positive psychology well-being depression cost-effectiveness economic evaluation randomized controlled trial |
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