Project Area:
Health policy and systems research.
Project title:
Empowering Voices, Enhancing Outcomes: Co-creating an Open Source Health Economic Model for National Decisions on Care in Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia in Ireland.
This project will be based in RCSI, University of Medicine and Health Sciences.
Project Summary:
Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia (AD) represent a significant and growing socioeconomic challenge globally, particularly in Ireland, where estimated annual costs reach €2 billion, half borne informally by family carers. National decisions on healthcare resource allocation typically rely on health economic cost-effectiveness analysis. However, current methods applied to AD may be flawed. Generic Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) measures often used in these analyses show poor reliability and validity in the AD context, failing to capture disease complexities and potentially leading to inappropriate conclusions about the value of interventions. Condition-specific HRQOL tools exist but are not commonly employed in economic modelling.
Furthermore, the significant costs and quality of life impacts experienced by family carers are frequently omitted from analyses. Systematic reviews show that including carer impacts often reverses conclusions about an intervention’s cost-effectiveness. Pilot work completed by applying a simplified version of the proposed study model to AD in the Irish setting, demonstrates that incorporating family carer data and appropriately considering quality of life and costs for people with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia (PwAD) shifts conclusions on cost-effectiveness, such that some care decisions would move to be nationally recommended under HSE thresholds.
This indicates a critical gap: currently applied health economic models used for national decision-making in AD care may systematically undervalue interventions by failing to accurately capture disease costs and quality of life impacts for both PwAD and their family carers. This project will directly address this gap by developing a novel, open-source model co-created with PwAD and family carers, incorporating their lived experiences regarding costs and HRQoL, and their preferences for different novel healthcare options, which will then be modelled in a first-use case of this open-source health economic model. This approach aims to produce a more accurate and meaningful decision-making tool tailored to and available for the AD population, improving healthcare delivery and outcomes for this growing public health concern.
Skills Required:
(If applying for this project you will be asked to outline how you meet the skills required below)
The aim of this study is to create an open-source health-economic model for AD in Ireland that accurately reflects the attitudes and preferences of PwAD and their family caregivers. The candidate will assist the project PI in collecting and analysing data from PwAD and their family caregivers using various methods, including a systematic literature review to identify the lived experience of the costs of AD, a psychometric analysis of the health-related quality of life of PwAD and their caregivers using AD specific questionnaires applied in workshops, a thematic analysis of interviews with PwAD and their caregivers to gain insight into their experiences and challenges relating to AD, and a preference elicitation technique known as the analytic hierarchy process to capture the values and trade-offs of PwAD and their caregivers for different care options, which will then be studied in this open-source model.
The candidate will support the project PI in using the data from these methods to develop a health-economic model, which will compare the costs and benefits of different care options for AD. The candidate will then test the model with a real-world example of an intervention that PwAD and their caregivers have chosen. Subsequently, they will make the model publicly accessible through an online platform, where anyone can use it or modify it to suit their needs.
A health economic or economic background is desirable but not mandatory. Candidates from other quantitative or health-related disciplines, such as public health, pharmacy, mathematics, statistics, biostatistics, epidemiology, health services research, health policy, psychology, and sociology, who demonstrate analytical skills are encouraged to apply.
Supervisory team:
- Dr Jonathan Briody, PI/Primary Supervisor, School of Population Health, RCSI.
- Dr Emma O’Shea, Lecturer, Centre for Gerontology & Rehabilitation, School of Medicine, UCC.
- Dr Fiona Boland, Lecturer, Data Science Centre, RCSI.
- Professor James O’Mahony, Professor, School of Economics, UCD.
- Dr Peter May, Senior Lecturer in Health Economics. Cicely Saunders Institute of Palliative Care, Policy & Rehabilitation, King’s College London, UK.
- Professor Kathleen Bennett, Professor, School of Population Health, RCSI.
- Professor Edward Gregg, Professor, School of Population Health, RCSI.
- Professor Sean Kennelly, Professor, Director of Tallaght Institute of Memory and Cognition, Consultant Physician in Geriatric and Stroke Medicine, Tallaght Hospital.
- Professor Sean O’Dowd, Consultant Neurologist, Tallaght University Hospital (TUH) and Naas General Hospital.
In addition, the Scholar will be supported by an Advisory Committee that includes colleagues from: the University of Oxford, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics (NCPE), Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA), Tallaght Institute of Memory and Cognition, Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI), Dementia Trials Ireland (DTI), Dementia Research Network Ireland (DRNI), Irish Dementia Working Group, European Working Group of People with Dementia, Dementia Carers Campaign Network (DCCN), Dementia Research Advisory Team (DRAT) and the HSE National Dementia Services.
How to Apply:
A two page CV and one page over letter should be submitted to Dr Jonathan Briody at pathwaysphd2025@gmail.com
Any queries regarding the project can also be directed to Dr Briody at pathwaysphd2025@gmail.com
The deadline to apply is Monday 30th June 2025.