Estimating development cost of an interactive website based cancer screening promotion program.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to estimate the initial development costs for an innovative talk show format tailored intervention delivered via the interactive web, for increasing cancer screening in women 50-75 who were non-adherent to screening guidelines for colorectal cancer and/or breast cancer.


METHODS
The cost of the intervention development was estimated from a societal perspective. Micro costing methods plus vendor contract costs were used to estimate cost. Staff logs were used to track personnel time. Non-personnel costs include all additional resources used to produce the intervention.


RESULTS
Development cost of the interactive web based intervention was $.39 million, of which 77% was direct cost. About 98% of the cost was incurred in personnel time cost, contract cost and overhead cost.


CONCLUSIONS
The new web-based disease prevention medium required substantial investment in health promotion and media specialist time. The development cost was primarily driven by the high level of human capital required. The cost of intervention development is important information for assessing and planning future public and private investments in web-based health promotion interventions.
Department of Management, Policy and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, 1200 Herman Pressler Street, RAS E307, Houston, TX 77030, United States. Electronic address: david.r.lairson@uth.tmc.edu.
David R
DR
Lairson
Department of Management, Policy and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, 1200 Herman Pressler Street, RAS E331, Houston, TX 77030, United States.
Tong Han
TH
Chung
Department of Physiology and Health Science, Ball State University, CL 326F, Muncie, IN 47306, United States.
Lisa G
LG
Smith
College of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Georgia, Journalism Building, Room 201-B, Athens, GA 30602, United States.
Jeffrey K
JK
Springston
School of Nursing, Indiana University, 1111 Middle Drive NU340, Indianapolis, IN 46202, United States.
Victoria L
VL
Champion
D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003113:Colonoscopy / Q000191:economics; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D055088:Early Detection of Cancer / Q000191:economics* / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000191:economics* / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008327:Mammography / Q000191:economics; D008875:Middle Aged; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D010349:Patient Compliance; D016730:Program Development / Q000191:economics
Breast cancer; Colorectal cancer; Development costs; Early detection of cancer