Accepted for/Published in: Interactive Journal of Medical Research
Date Submitted: Feb 12, 2019
Date Accepted: Jan 24, 2020
Optimizing patient preference elicitation: Simulating real life health decisions
ABSTRACT
Background:
Although preference research finds its origins in market research, preference elicitation methods gained increasingly attention for measuring patient preferences, to be implemented in different stages of the medicinal product life cycle. However, important uncertainties regarding the application of preference methods in healthcare remain as available guidelines seldomly focus on all relevant aspects of preference experiments.
Objective:
The aim of this paper is to identify consumer methods to optimize preference elicitation in healthcare.
Methods:
A narrative literature review is performed to identify preference elicitation concepts in a consumer context, that may offer innovative applications in healthcare.
Results:
Five concepts are identified with promising value in healthcare: Simulating alternatives, Self-reflection, Feedback-driven exploration, Separated (Adaptive) Dual Response and Arranging profiles in blocks. The outcomes of preference studies adopting these concepts confirm that preference elicitation experiments that resemble the real-life situation, achieve more accurate results.
Conclusions:
The process of acquiring information about new available products by consumers before deciding about buying a product, strongly resembles the process of patients familiarizing themselves with benefits and risks before choosing their preferred treatment option. By implementing concepts from market research, preference elicitation in healthcare could be improved.
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