Cost-utility of a web-based intervention to promote maternal mental health among postpartum women presenting low risk for postpartum depression

Abstract

Web-based interventions for the promotion of maternal mental health couldrepresent a cost-effective strategy to reduce the burden associated with perinatal mental illness. This study aimed to evaluate the cost-utility of Be a Mom, a self-guided web-based cognitive behavioral therap d to calculate incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs). Uncertainty was accounted for with nonparametric bootstrapping and sensitivity analyses. At 14 months, and after accounting for a 3.5 percent discount rate, the intervention resulted in a yearly cost-saving of EUR 165.47 (-361.77, 28.51) and a QALY gain of 0.0064 (-0.0116, 0.0244). Bootstrapping results revealed a dominant ICER for the intervention group. Although results were statistically nonsignificant, cost-effectiveness acceptability curves showed that at a EUR 0 willingness to pay threshold, there is a 96 percent probability that the intervention is cost-effective when compared with the control group. The sensitivity analyses generally supported the acceptable likelihood of the intervention being more cost-effective than the control group.From a societal perspective, the implementation of Be a Mom among low-risk postpartum women could be a cost-effective way to improve perinatal mental health.