Research Interests

Since 1974 my research has focused on measuring and maximizing the cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit of mental health and substance abuse treatment. In the past decade, my students and I are concentrating on analyzing the cost-effectiveness, cost-benefit, cost-utility, and social return on investment of a) the clubhouse model of helping persons with severe mental illness become and stay employed as well as empowered, b) gender-sensitive versus traditional residential substance abuse treatments, c) cognitive-behavioral versus lightbox therapies for seasonal affective disorder (SAD), d) suicide prevention for soldiers and veterans, e) evidence-based child-management training programs delivered in homes versus clinics, and f) emergency assistance programs for human rights advocates working in life-threatening international contexts.

Grants and Sponsored Research

• Cost-inclusive evaluation of Emergency Assitance Program of Freedom House
• Costs and benefits of interventions that reduce group and institutional care, with PI Dr. Mary Hansen
• Measuring costs and cost-valued outcomes of gender-specific practices in substance abuse treatment programs. NIDA 2008-2013.
• Two all-day workshops and one day of consulting, from the Australian Centre for Addiction Research to American University, 2007.
• Costs, Benefits, Cost-Effectiveness, and Cost-Benefit Analysis of Parent Training and Couples Therapy for Drug Abuse, 2002-2004.
• Consultation to RAND on cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analysis of Starting Early Starting Smart (SESS) 2000.   
• Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health. Consultant on cost-effectiveness analysis of parent mentoring.   
• Consultant to Howard Research, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, cost-effectiveness of sustainability of primary health care. 
• A case-study of the cost-effectiveness of psychotherapy, 1979 contract from the Office of Technology Assessment, US Congress.
 

Professional Presentations

Yates, B. T., Persaud, N., "Flavors and Purposes of Cost-Inclusive Evaluation: Making Evaluation Even More Useful to More Stakeholders," American Evaluation Association annual conference, Washington, DC. Scope: International. Refereed. (November 11, 2017,)

Levin, H., Yates, B. T., Julnes, G., Alkin, M. C., "Adopting Economic Cost-Effectiveness Analyses to Enhance Evaluation Practices," American Evaluation Association, Washington, DC. Scope: International. Refereed. (November 10, 2017)

Yates, B. T., "Adding Costs to Make Your Evaluation More Impactful (and Better Used): Cost-Effectiveness, Cost-Benefit, Cost-Utility Analyses for Health and Human Services," American Evaluation Association, Washington, DC. Scope: International. Refereed. (November 8, 2017, 3-hou workshop)

Wald, L., Yates, B. T., Rohan, K., "Cost-Benefit and Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of CBT versus LT for SAD at Second-Winter," American Evaluation Association annual conference, Washington, DC. Scope: International. Refereed. (November 8, 2017)

Yates, B. T., "Evaluating and Improving Costs, Cost-Effectiveness, Cost-Benefit of Psychological Interventions," American Psychological Association, American Psychological Association, Washington, DC. Scope: International. Refereed. (August 3, 2017)

Yates, B. T., "Cost-Inclusive Evaluation: Improving Cost, Cost-Effectiveness, Cost-Benefit," evaluators of the Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission, State of California, Sacramento, CA. Scope: State. Non-Refereed. (August 25, 2015)

Yates, B. T., "What cost-inclusive evaluation is, why it matters, overcoming obstacles," Office of Program Evaluation Training Conference, US Environmental Protection Agency, Office of the Inspector General, Office of Program Evaluation, Potomac Yard Conference Center, Arlington, VA. Scope: National. Non-Refereed. (August 4, 2015)

Panel discussion participant, Yates, B. T., Building the Science of Investing in Healthy Development, : a Prevention and Economic Planing and Research Network, Eisenhower Executive Office Building, White House Complex, Washington, DC. Scope: National. Non-Refereed. (December 8, 2014)

Gorman, J., Yates, B. T., McKay, C., "Using research methods to build a roadmap for Clubhouse sustainability," USA National Clubhouse Conference, Clubhouse International, Silver Spring, MD. Scope: National. Non-Refereed. (November 14, 2014)

Yates, B. T., "Measuring Resources Used and Resources Produced to Enhance Treatment Delivery and Funding: Cost-Effectiveness, Cost-Benefit, and More," Invited presentation, Psychotherapy Development Research Center, Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Yale University, West Haven, CT, USA. Scope: Local. Non-Refereed. (November 3, 2014)

Yates, B. T., "Evaluating and Improving Cost, Cost-Effectiveness, and Cost-Benefit," American Evaulation Association 2014, Denver, CO. Scope: International. Refereed. (October 14, 2014)

Panel discussion leader, Yates, B. T., "Why Don't More Evaluations Include Costs ... and Cost-Effectiveness and Cost-Benefit?," American Evaulation Association 2014, Denver, CO. Scope: International. Refereed. (October 14, 2014)

Yates, B. T., "Starting cost-inclusive evaluation.," American Evaluation Associa-tion, Anaheim, CA. Scope: International. Refereed. (November 4, 2011)   

Yates, B. T., "Valuing program outcomes relative to program costs to improve both: Alternative forms of cost-inclusive evaluation.," American Evaluation Association, Anaheim, CA. Scope: International. Refereed. (November 4, 2011)   

Yates, B. T., "Sustainability and Economic Evaluation: Transforming "Is It Cost-Beneficial?" Into "Is It Sustainable?"," American Evaluation Association, An-aheim, CA. Scope: International. Refereed. (November 3, 2011)   

Yates, B. T., "Program Evaluation," Veteran's Administration, my office at Amer-ican University. Scope: Local. Non-Refereed. (October 7, 2011)   

Yates, B. T., "Economic Evaluation of Social and Emotional Learning Outcomes," Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning, Pennsylvania State University, Arlington, VA. Scope: National. Refereed. (September 27, 2011)   

Yates, B. T., Preconference workshop on improving cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit of human services, Society for Prevention Research, Society for Pre-vention Research and National Institute for Drug Abuse, Washington, DC. Scope: International. Refereed. (May 31, 2011)   

Yates, B. T., "Cost-Inclusive Research in Psychology," Colloquium Series, De-partment of Psychology, U. of Vermont, University of Vermont's Department of Psychology, Burlington, VT. Scope: Local. Non-Refereed. (April 8, 2011)   

Yates, B. T., "Cost-Inclusive Evaluation," American Evaluation Association, American Evaluation Association, San Antonio, TX. Scope: International. Refereed. (November 14, 2010)   

Yates, B. T., Hornack, S., Hermida, J., "Quality Evaluation: Avoiding Hypocrisy by Formative Evaluation of Evaluation's Outcomes, Processes, and Costs," American Evaluation Association, American University, San Antonio, TX. Scope: International. Refereed. (November 13, 2010)   

Yates, B. T., Kissel, A., "Using Cost --> Procedure --> Process --> Outcome Analysis (CPPOA) Data to Improve Substance Abuse Prevention Programs and Portfolios," American Evaluation Asociation, American Evaluation Asso-ciation, San Antonio, TX. Scope: International. Refereed. (November 12, 2010)    

Yates, B. T., Dialogue over Dinner: Mental Illness: Breaking Barriers, Forging Ahead, International Center for Clubhouse Development, National Press Club, Washington, DC. Scope: International. (May 25, 2010)   

Yates, B. T., Horack, S., "Measuring and assessing costs: Why all the resistance?," American Evaluation Association, Orlando, FL. Scope: International. Refereed, Published in other than proceedings. (November 14, 2009)   

Yates, B. T., "Evaluating costs and benefits ethically: Avoiding the special pitfalls of using monetary units to measure resources "in" and outcomes "out."," American Evaluation Association, Orlando, FL. Scope: International. Refer-eed, Published in other than proceedings. (November 13, 2009)   

Yates, B. T., Herman, P., "Core Concepts of Applied Cost-Effectiveness and Cost-Benefit Analysis," American Evaluation Association, American Evalua-tion Association, Orlando, FL. Scope: International. Refereed, Published in other than proceedings. (November 11, 2009)   

Yates, B. T., "Cost data," Cost-Effectiveness Evaluation in Addiction Treatment Clinical Trials, National Institute on Drug Abuse’s Clinical Trials Network (NIDA CTN), Rockville, MD. Scope: National. Non-Refereed, Published in other than proceedings. (July 30, 2009)   

Yates, B. T., "Cost-inclusive evaluation: A banquet of approaches for including costs in your next evaluation," Munroe-Meyer Institute’s Interdisciplinary Center for Program Evaluation, University of Nebraska, Medical School, Omaha, Nebraska. Scope: Regional. Non-Refereed, Published in other than proceedings. (June 9, 2009)   

Yates, B. T., Kissel, A. V., "Cost → procedure → process → outcome analysis (CPPOA) of a fourth-grade intervention for preventing use of alcohol, tobac-co, and other drugs.," Annual meeting of the Society for Prevention Research, Society for Prevention Research, Washington, DC. Scope: International. Ref-ereed, Published in other than proceedings. (May 28, 2009)   

Yates, B. T., "Cost analysis workshop: Using cost-inclusive evaluation to improve human services.," Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI. Scope: Lo-cal. Non-Refereed, Published in other than proceedings. (March 10, 2009)       

Professional Services

External Service

Board of Advisors of a Company, International Center for Clubhouse Development (ICCD), School of Medicine, University of Massachusetts, Worcester, MA, USA, Appointed. (November 2011 - Present)   

Advise on research of ICCD "A global resource for communities creating solutions for people with mental illness."    http://www.iccd.org/    Reviewer, Ad Hoc Reviewer, professional journals, Appointed. (January 1, 2011 - Present)   

Journal of Consulting and Clincal Psychology, 2/16/2012   

Prevention Science, reviewed 1 manuscript, 2/1/2011   

Prevention Science, reviewed 2nd ms. 6/23/2011   

Child Youth Forum, reviewed 1 manuscript, 5/2/2011   

Committee Member, Safe Schools National Evaluation panel member, United States of America, Appointed. (January 1, 2011 - Present)   

Panel member, just joined. I'll be finding out more about my responsibilities in the new year.    Member, Editorial Board, The Evaluation Center, Western Michigan University, Appointed. (February 2, 2010 - Present)   

Review manuscripts, suggest reviewers for manuscripts, provide guidance to editor on special issues and, in this case, evaluation checklists.   

Member, Editorial Board, Evaluation & Program Planning, Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, Amsterdam, Netherlands, Appointed. (January 23, 2006 - Present)    Correspond regularly with Editor regarding reviewers, new directions for the journal, and special issues.    Impact factor = .888 as of 9/21/2010   

Member, Advisory Group, Mentoring Program, Appointed. (April 9, 2010 - April 9, 2015)    Advise on cost, cost-effectiveness, and related evaluation research for a federally (OJJDP) funded study of random assignment to paid mentoring, volunteer mentoring, or waiting list conditions in the Triangle area of North Carolina.   

Board Member, American Evaluation Association, Elected. (January 1, 2011 - December 31, 2013)    Board members serve for 3 years: this is concurrent with my (elected) position as Treasurer.

Chair, Finance Priority Area Team 

Chair, Board Activities Budget Task Force

Member, Canadian Evaluation Society Joint Activity Task Force 

Member, Environmental Sustainability Task Force

Member, Executive Committee    Officer, Treasurer, American Evaluation Association, Elected. (January 1, 2008 - December 31, 2013)   

Re-elected to a second 3-year term, to manage over $2.1 million in nonprofit organization's assets, $1.5 million annual budget, sign all checks, responsible for educating rest of Board of American Evaluation Association about finances, near-daily correspondence with association's Executive Director.    While most organizations' financial standing declined over the past two years, mine has improved.   

Member, Expert Advisory Committee, Systematic Review of Evidence-Based Program Repository, National Institute of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA, Appointed. (September 2011 - August 2013)    Participate in 5 webinears over the course of 2 years in which I am asked to provide my expertise and input. Grant title is "Systematic Review of Evidence-Based Program Repository." Principal Investigator is Stephen Magura.    Board of Advisors of a Company, UCLA Center for Healthier Children, Youth and Families, Los Angeles, CA, USA, Appointed. (September 2011 - August 2012)   

Expert on cost and cost-benefit analyses of mental health services, for statewide evaluation of the California Mental Health Services Act.    Advisor, cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analysis, Phoenix Children's Hospital, Phoenix, AZ, USA, Appointed. (May 2011 - April 2012)    Assist Dr. Cady Berkel and others at the Phoenix Children's Hospital in developing and planning, collecting data for, and conducting at least preliminary cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analyses.    These will focus on measuring and comparing costs of achieving benefits such as reduced costs associated with appointments missed and unnecessary visits to emergency rooms, in addition to benefits such as increased revenue for children receiving primary and specialty services.    Reviewer, Ad Hoc Reviewer, ad-hoc reviewer for professional journals, Evaluation Review,, Appointed. (January 1, 2011 - December 31, 2011)   

Reviewed 2 manuscripts    Member, CONSULTING EDITOR, Editorial Board, Health Psychology journal of the American Psychological Association, Health Psychology, American Psychological Association, Washington, DC, United States of American, Appointed. (July 1, 2010 - December 30, 2011)    Members of the Editorial Board serve critical roles in the evaluation of all papers. Consistent with APA guidance, we ask that Editorial Board members review between 7-12 submissions per year. We ask that all reviews be completed in a timely manner and that reviewers appreciate all the obligations and responsibilities of scientific peer review.    URL for this journal: http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/hea    reviewed 1 manuscript 07/13/2011   

Reviewer, Grant Proposal, US Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, Washington, DC, USA, Appointed. (July 24, 2011 - August 4, 2011)    Reviewed proposal for research on the cost-effectiveness of educational interventions.    Grant Proposal Reviewer, External, Department of Education, Institute for Education Services. (July 20, 2011 - August 2, 2011)   

Review second submission of application    the Institute for Education Services is the primary research branch of the US Department of Education    invited writer of external letter of evaluation for promotion, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Appointed. (December 14, 2010 - December 31, 2010)    I was asked by the Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Massachusetts Medical School to write a letter of recommendation for evaluation of a request for promotion.    Ad-Hoc Reviewer for professional journals, Appointed. (January 1, 2010 - December 31, 2010)    1 manuscripts for American Journal of Evaluation,    1 manuscripts for Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology    2 manuscripts for Evaluation and Program Planning   

Research Interests

Measuring and improving the effectiveness, costs, cost-effectiveness, and cost-benefit of health and human services.