As part of a recent systematic review, the Children’s Health Policy Centre examined the results of a study on the Strong African American Families–Teen (SAAF–T) program, which aimed to prevent substance use, behaviour problems and depressive symptoms for Black youth. The study not only examined whether that the Strong African American Families-Teen (SAAF-T) program was effective in preventing alcohol use, but it also looked at whether program was cost-effective.

After researchers determined that the program was indeed effective in preventing alcohol use, they calculated the cost of delivering the program while considering the benefits from reductions in alcohol use and binge drinking, to identify the estimated costs of preventing episodes of each of these events. They concluded that the program was cost-effective so long as policy-makers were willing to pay $100 to prevent an episode of alcohol use and $440 to prevent an episode of binge drinking.

Policy-makers, of course, need to weigh these expenditures against the costs of alcohol use by adolescents, including binge drinking, which can accrue health care costs from accidents and injuries, risky sexual behaviour and potential future substance use disorders. Given the high price of adolescent alcohol use, SAAF–T has the potential to not only improve lives but also to do so in a cost-effective manner. For more information, see Vol. 17, No. 2 of the Children’s Mental Health Research Quarterly.