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Are preferences over health states complete?
1Social and Public Health Economics Research (SPHERe) Group, Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Sydney, Australia. alans@pub.health.usyd.edu.au
Health Economics
|March 1, 2000
Summary
Health economics often assumes complete patient preferences. However, this study found one-third of participants constructed preferences during interviews, suggesting completeness isn't guaranteed.
Area of Science:
- Health Economics
- Decision Science
- Behavioral Economics
Background:
- Applied health economics typically assumes complete preferences for health states or services.
- An alternative view posits that preferences are constructed during choice tasks, not merely revealed.
- This construction process may be misinterpreted as measurement error.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the completeness of health preferences in individuals.
- To explore whether health values are pre-defined or constructed during valuation.
Main Methods:
- A study was conducted to evaluate the completeness of health preferences.
- Participants' willingness to pay or standard gamble responses were analyzed.
- Repeat administrations were used to assess value stability.
Main Results:
- Most participants' health values remained stable across repeat administrations, indicating completeness.
- However, one-third of participants intentionally altered their responses.
- These participants reported that the interview process prompted deeper reflection on their values.
Conclusions:
- Health preference completeness cannot be assumed.
- The process of preference elicitation may actively shape values.
- Further research with larger samples is needed to confirm these findings.