Evaluating the Cost Effectiveness of ISTDP: A Quasi Experimental Study

Completed

• Conditions: Anxiety; Somatoform Disorders; Personality Disorders; Depression; Psychotic Disorders
• Interventions: Behavioral: ISTDP

• Registration Number: NCT01924715
• Lead Sponsor: Nova Scotia Health Authority

Brief Summary

Objective: To evaluate whether or not cases treated with Intensive Short-term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP) facilitate healthcare cost reduction, whether any observed reduction is greater than that of a control group and whether any such gains would be maintained in follow up.

Design: A quasi-experimental design was employed in which pre and post healthcare cost and usage data were extracted for all ISTDP treated cases from 1999 to 2008 and compared to parallel measures of a control group of cases referred but never treated.

Detailed Description

Importance: Psychiatric and psychological disorders result in excess health care service use and costs. Brief psychotherapy methods may be effective across a broad range of mental disorders and could therefore result in healthcare cost reduction.

Objective: To evaluate whether or not cases treated with Intensive Short-term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP) facilitate healthcare cost reduction, whether any observed reduction is greater than that of a control group and whether any such gains would be maintained in follow up.

Design: A quasi-experimental design was employed in which pre and post healthcare cost and usage data were extracted for all ISTDP treated cases from 1999 to 2008 and compared to parallel measures of a control group of cases referred but never treated.

Setting: Treatments were provided at an urban University based psychotherapy service.

Participants: All cases from the province of Nova Scotia treated within the research time frame were included. 890 patients were included with a very broad range of psychiatric disorders including anxiety, mood, somatoform, personality and psychotic disorders. 192 referred but never see cases served as non randomized controls.

Intervention(s): ISTDP is an emotionally focused form of brief psychotherapy which has supportive, cognitive, experiential and primarily psychodynamic elements. In this setting the average length of treatment was 7.3 sessions and cost an estimated $500 dollars per treatment course.

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2008-01
• Primary Completion: 2009-03
• Study Completion: 2009-03
• Status Verified: 2013-07
• Study First Submitted: 2013-07-25
• Study First Submitted QC: 2013-08-15
• Last Update Submitted: 2013-08-15
• Study First Posted: 2013-08-16
• Last Update Posted: 2013-08-16

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 1082

Inclusion Criteria

• All patients referred for ISTDP treatment

Exclusion Criteria

• Patients not referred for ISTDP treatment

Study & Design

• Study Type: OBSERVATIONAL
• Study Design: Not specified

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
ISTDP	ISTDP	Patients provided Intensive Short term Dynamic Psychotherapy

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Total Doctor and Hospital Costs	1 year pre versus 3 years post	Total Physician and Hospital billings per patient

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Hospital costs	1 year pre versus 3 years post	Total Hospital costs per patient
Hospital Days	1 year per versus 3 years post	Hospital days per patient
Doctor Visits	1 year pre versus 3 years post	Doctor Costs per patient
Doctor Costs	1 year pre versus 3 years post	Doctor costs per patient

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Capital Health; 🇨🇦 Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada