An Economic Evaluation of 'Sheds for Life': A Community-Based Men's Health Initiative for Men's Sheds in Ireland.

Aisling Mcgrath,Gillian Ormond,Niamh Murphy,Tom Egan,Noel Richardson

doi:10.3390/ijerph19042204

Abstract

Men’s Sheds (‘Sheds’) attract a diverse cohort of men and, as such, have been identified as spaces with the potential to engage marginalized subpopulations with more structured health promotion. ‘Sheds for Life’ is a 10-week men’s health initiative for Sheds in Ireland and the first structured health promotion initiative formally evaluated in Sheds. Cost is an important implementation outcome in the evaluation of Sheds for Life when operating in an environment where budgets are limited. Therefore, an economic evaluation is critical to highlight cost-effectiveness for decision makers who determine sustainability. This is the first study to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of health endeavors in Sheds. All costs from pre-implementation to maintenance phases were gathered, and questionnaires incorporating the SF-6D were administered to participants (n = 421) at baseline, 3, 6, and 12 months. Then, utility scores were generated to determine quality-adjusted life years (QALYS). Results demonstrate that the intervention group experienced an average 3.3% gain in QALYS from baseline to 3 months and a further 2% gain from 3 months to 6 months at an estimated cost per QALY of €15,724. These findings highlight that Sheds for Life is a cost-effective initiative that effectively engages and enhances the well-being of Shed members.

Highlights

Received: 16 December 2021Traditionally, men have been regarded as being more difficult to engage with conventional health services compared to women, and an understanding of how gender shapes men’s health practice is a critical first step in developing effective health promotion strategies that might appeal to men [1]
For the Sheds for Life (SFL) program, the vast majority of the costs are related to the initial three-month period, and while some of these costs were significant such as salary costs and the costs of full health checks, this must be considered against the success of this program in attracting
421 participants from what is considered a ‘hard-to-reach’ population. This leads to a cost-effectiveness ratio (CER) of €309.3 per QALY, which can be considered in comparison to a “do nothing” scenario

Summary

Introduction

Received: 16 December 2021Traditionally, men have been regarded as being more difficult to engage with conventional health services compared to women, and an understanding of how gender shapes men’s health practice is a critical first step in developing effective health promotion strategies that might appeal to men [1]. The importance and success of gendered approaches in the design and delivery of health interventions for men has been highlighted in a host of community-based men’s health programs [2–6]. These approaches demonstrate a need for a more targeted approach to recruit more marginalized groups of men [5]. Research spanning Australia, Ireland, and the UK has cemented the reputation of Men’s Sheds (‘Sheds’) as settings that are inherently health promoting for men, with. Sheds increasingly being seen by health and social policy makers as an exemplar for the promotion of men’s health and well-being [7–10].

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Results

Conclusion