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Maternal depression in Khayelitsha, South Africa: a comparison of health utilisation costs of maternal depression and the cost of intervening through a task-shifting approach

This study assessed the health service utilisation costs of untreated maternal depression in women early in their pregnancy in Khayelitsha, South Africa. In addition, it determined the costs of providing treatment or support to these women through a psychological intervention that was delivered by t...

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Main Author: Orangi, Stacy Kwamboka
Other Authors: Cleary, Susan
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Health Economics Unit 2017
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access_status_str Open Access
author Orangi, Stacy Kwamboka
author2 Cleary, Susan
author_browse Cleary, Susan
Orangi, Stacy Kwamboka
author_facet Cleary, Susan
Orangi, Stacy Kwamboka
author_sort Orangi, Stacy Kwamboka
collection Thesis
description This study assessed the health service utilisation costs of untreated maternal depression in women early in their pregnancy in Khayelitsha, South Africa. In addition, it determined the costs of providing treatment or support to these women through a psychological intervention that was delivered by trained community health workers. This thesis was a sub-study of the AFFIRM study (Africa Focus on Intervention Research for Mental Health) whose main objective was to determine the effectiveness, acceptability, cost-effectiveness and potential sustainability of a task-shifted psychological intervention offered to depressed mothers. To determine the costs of maternal depression, health care costs were analyzed over a period of 3 months from both patient and provider perspectives; this information was obtained from participants during their first antenatal visit. These health service costs (excluding antenatal and well-baby visits) were compared between psychologically distressed pregnant women with different severity levels of depression; no depression, mild depression and moderate/severe depression. The cost of the task-shifted intervention was calculated from a provider's perspective and compared to the costs of the 'enhanced usual care' that was offered to women in the control arm. The main costs that were analyzed were the costs of screening, start-up costs, costs of the rooms and recurrent costs. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to determine the robustness of the study results. The results show that as the severity of maternal depression increases, the use of health services also increases. The health service utilisation costs among women with moderate/severe depression ($128.27 per mother/child pair per 3 month period) were almost seven times those of women who did not have depression ($19.70 per mother/child pair), amounting to a mean cost difference of $108.57. For the intervention, salaries, followed by screening costs were the major cost drivers, with screening costs amounting to $26.69 per mother screened positive. Assuming the intervention was delivered to completion without loss to follow up, the cost per mother for the intervention was $230.47 in comparison to $69.93 per mother for enhanced usual care. A sensitivity analysis showed that the screening costs were sensitive to the prevalence of maternal depression. From this study, it can be concluded that women with maternal depression use more health services and incur higher health care costs. It is possible to provide support to these women using psychological approaches that are delivered by lower level staff such as community health workers. This treatment can be affordable, depending on the budget constraints.
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:33:19.547Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2017
publishDateRange 2017
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publisher Health Economics Unit
publisherStr Health Economics Unit
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spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/23704 Maternal depression in Khayelitsha, South Africa: a comparison of health utilisation costs of maternal depression and the cost of intervening through a task-shifting approach Orangi, Stacy Kwamboka Cleary, Susan Health Economics This study assessed the health service utilisation costs of untreated maternal depression in women early in their pregnancy in Khayelitsha, South Africa. In addition, it determined the costs of providing treatment or support to these women through a psychological intervention that was delivered by trained community health workers. This thesis was a sub-study of the AFFIRM study (Africa Focus on Intervention Research for Mental Health) whose main objective was to determine the effectiveness, acceptability, cost-effectiveness and potential sustainability of a task-shifted psychological intervention offered to depressed mothers. To determine the costs of maternal depression, health care costs were analyzed over a period of 3 months from both patient and provider perspectives; this information was obtained from participants during their first antenatal visit. These health service costs (excluding antenatal and well-baby visits) were compared between psychologically distressed pregnant women with different severity levels of depression; no depression, mild depression and moderate/severe depression. The cost of the task-shifted intervention was calculated from a provider's perspective and compared to the costs of the 'enhanced usual care' that was offered to women in the control arm. The main costs that were analyzed were the costs of screening, start-up costs, costs of the rooms and recurrent costs. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to determine the robustness of the study results. The results show that as the severity of maternal depression increases, the use of health services also increases. The health service utilisation costs among women with moderate/severe depression ($128.27 per mother/child pair per 3 month period) were almost seven times those of women who did not have depression ($19.70 per mother/child pair), amounting to a mean cost difference of $108.57. For the intervention, salaries, followed by screening costs were the major cost drivers, with screening costs amounting to $26.69 per mother screened positive. Assuming the intervention was delivered to completion without loss to follow up, the cost per mother for the intervention was $230.47 in comparison to $69.93 per mother for enhanced usual care. A sensitivity analysis showed that the screening costs were sensitive to the prevalence of maternal depression. From this study, it can be concluded that women with maternal depression use more health services and incur higher health care costs. It is possible to provide support to these women using psychological approaches that are delivered by lower level staff such as community health workers. This treatment can be affordable, depending on the budget constraints. 2017-01-30T10:25:55Z 2017-01-30T10:25:55Z 2016 Master Thesis Masters MPH http://hdl.handle.net/11427/23704 eng application/pdf Health Economics Unit Faculty of Health Sciences University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Health Economics
Orangi, Stacy Kwamboka
Maternal depression in Khayelitsha, South Africa: a comparison of health utilisation costs of maternal depression and the cost of intervening through a task-shifting approach
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Maternal depression in Khayelitsha, South Africa: a comparison of health utilisation costs of maternal depression and the cost of intervening through a task-shifting approach
title_full Maternal depression in Khayelitsha, South Africa: a comparison of health utilisation costs of maternal depression and the cost of intervening through a task-shifting approach
title_fullStr Maternal depression in Khayelitsha, South Africa: a comparison of health utilisation costs of maternal depression and the cost of intervening through a task-shifting approach
title_full_unstemmed Maternal depression in Khayelitsha, South Africa: a comparison of health utilisation costs of maternal depression and the cost of intervening through a task-shifting approach
title_short Maternal depression in Khayelitsha, South Africa: a comparison of health utilisation costs of maternal depression and the cost of intervening through a task-shifting approach
title_sort maternal depression in khayelitsha south africa a comparison of health utilisation costs of maternal depression and the cost of intervening through a task shifting approach
topic Health Economics
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/23704
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