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Acceptability of willingness to pay techniques to consumers
Susan J Taylor1, Carol L Armour
1Faculty of Pharmacy, Building A15, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. suet@pharm.usyd.edu.au
Summary
This study compared contingent valuation (CV) and discrete choice experiment (DCE) methods for assessing willingness to pay (WTP) in pregnant women. Both WTP techniques were found acceptable, with DCE yielding fewer protest votes.
Area of Science:
- Health Economics
- Health Services Research
- Patient Preferences
Background:
- Assessing patient preferences is crucial for healthcare decision-making.
- Willingness to pay (WTP) methods, such as contingent valuation (CV) and discrete choice experiment (DCE), are used to elicit these preferences.
- Understanding the validity and acceptability of different WTP methods is important for reliable healthcare valuation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the proportion of usable responses and protest votes from contingent valuation (CV) and discrete choice experiment (DCE) methods.
- To assess the acceptability of CV and DCE techniques among pregnant women.
- To evaluate the validity of responses obtained through different willingness to pay (WTP) approaches.
Main Methods:
- Pregnant women attending public antenatal clinics in Sydney were surveyed.
- Preference for two childbirth treatments (A: ARM/oxytocin, B: prostaglandin gel/oxytocin) was assessed.
- Willingness to pay (WTP) for preferred treatments (CV) and specific treatment attributes (DCE) was measured.
- Acceptability was compared based on valid responses, protest votes, and recorded comments.
Main Results:
- Contingent valuation (CV) showed 74% preferred gel with a maximum WTP of Aus$178, versus $133 for the alternative. 68% of CV responses were valid, with 5% potential protest votes.
- Discrete choice experiment (DCE) indicated women were WTP $55 for each 1-hour reduction in induction-to-delivery time.
- DCE yielded a higher proportion of valid responses (72%) with only two protest votes out of 258 respondents.
Conclusions:
- Both contingent valuation (CV) and discrete choice experiment (DCE) are acceptable methods for assessing willingness to pay (WTP) in healthcare contexts.
- A small proportion of women expressed objections to WTP questions, and most completed them successfully.
- Discrete choice experiment (DCE) may be preferable due to a lower incidence of protest votes compared to contingent valuation (CV).