Economic Evaluations of Public Health Interventions: A Role for the Capabilities Approach?

Economic Evaluations of Public Health Interventions: A Role for the Capabilities Approach?

Large scale interventions, including housing regeneration projects such as GoWell, do not readily lend themselves to the application of established economic evaluation techniques because their outcomes are complex and varied.

Nobel laureate Amartya Sen's capabilities approach, however, has the potential to provide a framework within which to undertake such evaluations. The approach is based on the notion that it is the opportunities in life that are important for wellbeing: we should consider what people are able to do, not just what they choose to do.

This seminar, chaired by Prof Phil Hanlon , introduced the issues facing economic evaluations of public health interventions, including an overview of the proposed GoWell evaluation (Dr Elisabeth Fenwick). It also provided an introduction to the capabilities approach, both the theory and its application (Proochista Ariana).

The event closed with discussion of work using the capabilities framework in Glasgow, funding by the Glasgow Centre for Population Health, which is seeking to develop a questionnaire to measure outcomes for use in the evaluation of public health interventions (Dr Paula Lorgelly).