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A Benefit-Cost Analysis of BackTrack, a Multi-Component, Community-Based Intervention for High-Risk Young People in a Rural Australian Setting

BackTrack is a multi-component, community-based program designed to build capacity amongst high-risk young people. The aim of this study was to conduct a benefit-cost analysis of BackTrack, which was implemented in Armidale, a rural town in New South Wales, Australia. Costs and benefits were identif...

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Autores principales: Deeming, Simon, Edmunds, Kim, Knight, Alice, Searles, Andrew, Shakeshaft, Anthony P., Doran, Christopher M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9408498/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36011908
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191610273
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author Deeming, Simon
Edmunds, Kim
Knight, Alice
Searles, Andrew
Shakeshaft, Anthony P.
Doran, Christopher M.
author_facet Deeming, Simon
Edmunds, Kim
Knight, Alice
Searles, Andrew
Shakeshaft, Anthony P.
Doran, Christopher M.
author_sort Deeming, Simon
collection PubMed
description BackTrack is a multi-component, community-based program designed to build capacity amongst high-risk young people. The aim of this study was to conduct a benefit-cost analysis of BackTrack, which was implemented in Armidale, a rural town in New South Wales, Australia. Costs and benefits were identified, measured and valued in 2016 Australian dollars. Costs were estimated from program financial and administrative records. Benefits were estimated using a pre-post design and conservative economic assumptions. Benefits included education attendance or completion; employment; engagement with health service providers; reduced homelessness; economic productivity; reduced vandalism to local infrastructure; reduced youth crime; reduced engagement with the justice system; and program income generated by participants. The counterfactual baseline was zero educational outcome, based on discussions with BackTrack staff and expert informants. We tested this assumption compared to the assumption that participants had a Year 8 education. There was evidence of significant quantifiable improvements in several outcomes: high school attendance or completion, vocational education attendance or completion, unskilled or vocationally qualified employment and economic productivity. Reduced homelessness, engagement with health services and acquisition of job readiness skills, as well as reduced local infrastructure vandalism and reduced crime were further quantifiable improvements. The net social benefit of BackTrack was estimated at $3,267,967 with a benefit-cost ratio of 2.03, meaning that every dollar invested in BackTrack would return $2.03 in benefits. BackTrack represents a viable funding option for a government interested in addressing the needs of high-risk young people.
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spelling pubmed-94084982022-08-26 A Benefit-Cost Analysis of BackTrack, a Multi-Component, Community-Based Intervention for High-Risk Young People in a Rural Australian Setting Deeming, Simon Edmunds, Kim Knight, Alice Searles, Andrew Shakeshaft, Anthony P. Doran, Christopher M. Int J Environ Res Public Health Article BackTrack is a multi-component, community-based program designed to build capacity amongst high-risk young people. The aim of this study was to conduct a benefit-cost analysis of BackTrack, which was implemented in Armidale, a rural town in New South Wales, Australia. Costs and benefits were identified, measured and valued in 2016 Australian dollars. Costs were estimated from program financial and administrative records. Benefits were estimated using a pre-post design and conservative economic assumptions. Benefits included education attendance or completion; employment; engagement with health service providers; reduced homelessness; economic productivity; reduced vandalism to local infrastructure; reduced youth crime; reduced engagement with the justice system; and program income generated by participants. The counterfactual baseline was zero educational outcome, based on discussions with BackTrack staff and expert informants. We tested this assumption compared to the assumption that participants had a Year 8 education. There was evidence of significant quantifiable improvements in several outcomes: high school attendance or completion, vocational education attendance or completion, unskilled or vocationally qualified employment and economic productivity. Reduced homelessness, engagement with health services and acquisition of job readiness skills, as well as reduced local infrastructure vandalism and reduced crime were further quantifiable improvements. The net social benefit of BackTrack was estimated at $3,267,967 with a benefit-cost ratio of 2.03, meaning that every dollar invested in BackTrack would return $2.03 in benefits. BackTrack represents a viable funding option for a government interested in addressing the needs of high-risk young people. MDPI 2022-08-18 /pmc/articles/PMC9408498/ /pubmed/36011908 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191610273 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Deeming, Simon
Edmunds, Kim
Knight, Alice
Searles, Andrew
Shakeshaft, Anthony P.
Doran, Christopher M.
A Benefit-Cost Analysis of BackTrack, a Multi-Component, Community-Based Intervention for High-Risk Young People in a Rural Australian Setting
title A Benefit-Cost Analysis of BackTrack, a Multi-Component, Community-Based Intervention for High-Risk Young People in a Rural Australian Setting
title_full A Benefit-Cost Analysis of BackTrack, a Multi-Component, Community-Based Intervention for High-Risk Young People in a Rural Australian Setting
title_fullStr A Benefit-Cost Analysis of BackTrack, a Multi-Component, Community-Based Intervention for High-Risk Young People in a Rural Australian Setting
title_full_unstemmed A Benefit-Cost Analysis of BackTrack, a Multi-Component, Community-Based Intervention for High-Risk Young People in a Rural Australian Setting
title_short A Benefit-Cost Analysis of BackTrack, a Multi-Component, Community-Based Intervention for High-Risk Young People in a Rural Australian Setting
title_sort benefit-cost analysis of backtrack, a multi-component, community-based intervention for high-risk young people in a rural australian setting
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9408498/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36011908
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191610273
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