SynthesisApplied health economics and health policy2021
Systematic Review and Critique of Methods for Economic Evaluation of Digital Mental Health Interventions.
Synthesis in Applied health economics and health policy, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 35 citations in OpenAlex.
- Analytical Frameworks and Outcome Measures in Economic Evaluations of Digital Health Interventions: A Methodological Systematic Review.Medical decision making : an international journal of the Society for Medical Decision Making · 2023Pooled it
- Cost-effectiveness analysis of paediatric mental health interventions: a systematic review of model-based economic evaluations.BMC health services research · 2022Pooled it
- Digital interventions in mental health: evidence syntheses and economic modelling.Health technology assessment (Winchester, England) · 2022Pooled it
- Cost-effectiveness of a technology-assisted peer-delivered perinatal mental health intervention in Pakistan: an economic evaluation using trial evidence.BMJ global health · 2025Trial
- Costs and Outcomes of a Therapist-Guided Internet-Delivered Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Multicenter Observational Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Observational
- Evaluating the Impact of Pediatric Digital Mental Health Care on Caregiver Burnout and Absenteeism: Longitudinal Observational Study.JMIR pediatrics and parenting · 2025Article
- In varietate concordia - cluster analysis of EQ-5D-5L value sets in European Union countries.Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2025Article
- Government Digital Transformation and the utilization of Basic Public Health Services by China's migrant population.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Dealing with Diversity in Digital Psychological Interventions for Young People: A Structured Review.ACI open · 2024Review
- Developing a Program Costs Checklist of Digital Health Interventions: A Scoping Review and Empirical Case Study.PharmacoEconomics · 2024Article
- Cost-effectiveness of automated digital CBT (Daylight) for generalized anxiety disorder: A Markov simulation model in the United States.PLOS mental health · 2024Article
- Interdisciplinary perspectives on digital technologies for global mental health.PLOS global public health · 2024Review
- Understanding current UK practice for the incidental identification of vertebral fragility fractures from CT scans: an expert elicitation study.Aging clinical and experimental research · 2022Article
- Cost Effectiveness of Digital Interventions for Generalised Anxiety Disorder: A Model-Based Analysis.PharmacoEconomics - open · 2022Article
- Economic Evaluation of Digital Health Interventions: Methodological Issues and Recommendations for Practice.PharmacoEconomics · 2022Article
- Changes in healthcare costs following engagement with a virtual mental health system: a matched cohort study of healthcare claims data.Procedia computer science · 2022Article
- Social Return on Investment (SROI) of mental health related interventions-A scoping review.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesInvestment in digital interventions for mental health conditions is growing rapidly, offering the potential to elevate systems that are currently overstretched. Despite a growing literature on economic evaluation of digital mental health interventions (DMHIs), including several systematic reviews, there is no conclusive evidence regarding their cost-effectiveness. This paper reviews the methodology used to determine their cost-effectiveness and assesses whether this meets the requirements for decision-making. In doing so we consider the challenges specific to the economic evaluation of DMHIs, and identify where consensus and possible further research is warranted.
methodsA systematic review was conducted to identify all economic evaluations of DMHIs published between 1997 and December 2018. The searches included databases of published and unpublished research, reference lists and citations of all included studies, forward citations on all identified protocols and conference abstracts, and contacting authors researchers in the field. The identified studies were critiqued against a published set of requirements for decision-making in healthcare, identifying methodological challenges and areas where consensus is required.
resultsThe review identified 67 papers evaluating DMHIs. The majority of the evaluations were conducted alongside trials, failing to capture all relevant available evidence and comparators, and long-term impact of mental health disorders. The identified interventions are complex and heterogeneous. As a result, there are a number of challenges specific to their evaluation, including estimation of all costs and outcomes, conditional on analysis viewpoint, and identification of relevant comparators. A taxonomy for DMHIs may be required to inform what interventions can reasonably be pooled and compared.
conclusionsThis study represents the first attempt to understand the appropriateness of the methodologies used to evaluate the value for money of DMHIs, helping work towards consensus and methods' harmonisation on these complex interventions.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.