An economic evaluation of a mobile text messaging intervention to improve mental health care in resource-poor communities in China: a cost-effectiveness study

Background: Severe mental disorders, a leading cause of disability has become a major public health problem. In order to promote mental health, a series of programs have been promulgated by the Chinese government. However, economic evaluations of such programs are lacking. The purpose of this study is to develop and validate an economic model to assess the cost and health outcomes of the LEAN (Lay health supporters, E-platform, Award, and iNtegration) program, and to perform an economic evaluation of LEAN versus the nationwide community-based mental health program that provides free antipsychotic medications. Methods: A cost-effectiveness and cost-utility analysis of the LEAN intervention will be performed. A Markov model will be developed, validated and used to assess and compare the costs and outcomes for the LEAN intervention versus nationwide community-based mental health program. The calculated sample size is 258 participants for the analysis. A societal perspective will be applied with the time horizon of 1-year after the termination of the LEAN program. The cost-utility will be measured primarily using Quality Adjusted Life Years and the cost-effectiveness will be measured using number of relapses and number of re-hospitalizations avoided 6-month after the intervention. Univariate and probabilistic sensitivity analysis will be conducted for the analysis of uncertainty. Discussion: If proven cost-effective, this study will contribute to the nationwide implementation of the program, not only for schizophrenia but for all kind of severe mental disorders. Markov model developed as part of the study will benefit potential researchers in analyzing cost-effectiveness of other programs. The Chinese context of the study may limit the generalizability of the study results to some extent.