OBJECTIVES: To estimate the cost of implementing intervention to promote HPV vaccine uptake and completion among Hispanic parents of daughters (9-17 years), using a printed Photonovella and an iPad-based tailored interactive multimedia intervention (TIMI).
METHOD: 'Promotoras' (lay-health workers) delivered the interventions in Houston city clinics. 11 clinics were randomly assigned to each intervention. To date, the study recruited 301 participants in control, 422 participants in Photonovella, and 240 participants in TIMI clinics. The study target is 603 participants in each arm. The intervention costs were calculated using micro-costing from the societal perspective. Cost included time spent in planning, training the promotoras, recruiting study participants, and delivering the intervention. Detailed time logs were maintained on each encounter to measure participant’s and promotora’s intervention time. Travel costs were calculated using logs maintained by the promotoras to report the time and distance travelled between the study clinics. Project staff time and meeting time was collected every week using time logs. The material costs for the Photonovella intervention included the cost of printing; whereas for the TIMI, the cost of the iPads was annuitized over the expected life of the equipment. Overhead was estimated at 30% of direct costs, to include the cost of utilities, and project administration.
RESULTS: The total cost per person for the Photonovella and TIMI interventions were $119 and $152 respectively. The total cost increased by 4% for both the interventions when the overhead was estimated at 35% of direct cost.
CONCLUSION: Hispanic women have high rates of HPV infection and low health literacy. Our report outlines the costs of two interventions aimed at promoting HPV vaccine usage. This cost estimation is the first step in conducting a cost-effectiveness analysis and will be of interest to decision makers planning to invest in such public health interventions.
