title: Application of cost-benefit analysis to programmes for the prevention of mental handicap.
abstract: The paper is a discussion of the role of cost-benefit analysis in evaluating programmes for preventing mental handicap. It is divided into three broad sections. In the first section the technique of cost-benefit analysis is defined and the possible variants considered. It is concluded that policies for the prevention of mental handicap are most appropriately analysed using a mixture of monetary and non-monetary measures of outcome. The second section lays down some guidelines for undertaking a study: the importance of specifying alternatives to the policy being analysed; specifying input-output relationships; counting only the appropriate costs and benefits; and discounting costs and benefits which occur in the future. The third section looks at the current state of the art in the UK. It concludes that little cost-benefit analysis has been done in the field of mental handicap, indicates where work could usefully be directed, and highlights information that would have to be available before a cost-benefit study could give useful results.
mesh_terms: D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D003422:Critical Care / Q000191:economics; D006233:Persons with Disabilities; D004739:England; D005260:Female; D006295:Health Resources / Q000191:economics; D006801:Humans; D007226:Infant Mortality; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011295:Prenatal Care / Q000191:economics