Parent and Primary Care Provider Priorities for Wellness in Early Childhood: A Discrete Choice Experiment

BackgroundContacting a doctor for advice when experiencing a potential cancer symptom is an important step in early diagnosis, but barriers to consultation are commonly reported. Understanding barriers to consulting in primary care within the cancer context provides opportunities to improve earlier diagnosis of cancerAimTo investigate patients’ GP consultation preferences when presented with a potential cancer symptom, and to describe whether these preferences are mediated by variable levels of cancer risk.Design and settingA UK-wide online survey of adults ≥50 years old, using quota sampling to reflect general population characteristics.MethodA discrete choice experiment examined participants’ preferences for primary care consultation for three cancer symptom scenarios: risk level not mentioned, risk designated as ‘low’, or risk designated as ‘high’. Scenarios based on length of consultation, time to getting an appointment, convenience, choice of GP, and GP listening skills were presented in a self-completed online questionnaire.ResultsA total of 9616 observations were obtained from 601 participants. Participants expressed preferences for doctors with better listening skills, the ability to see a GP of their choice, and shorter waiting times. These findings were the same across risk conditions and demographic groups. Participants were willing to wait an extra 3.5 weeks for an appointment with a doctor with good/very good listening skills (versus very poor listening skills) and an extra week for an appointment with a GP of their choice (versus any GP).ConclusionPatient decisions about help seeking seem to be particularly influenced by the anticipated listening skills of doctors. Improving doctors’ communication skills may in the longer term encourage people to seek prompt medical help when they experience a cancer symptom.

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Preferences of Patients with Non-Communicable Diseases for Primary Healthcare Facilities: A Discrete Choice Experiment in Wuhan, China

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph17113987 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 17 (11) ◽

pp. 3987 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Erping Jia ◽

Yuanyuan Gu ◽

Yingying Peng ◽

Xianglin Li ◽

Xiao Shen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Willingness To Pay ◽

Travel Time ◽

Discrete Choice Experiment ◽

Discrete Choice ◽

Care Provider ◽

Primary Healthcare ◽

Choice Experiment ◽

Medical Practitioner ◽

Non Communicable Diseases ◽

Treatment Measures

Objectives: To elicit stated preferences of patients with non-communicable diseases (NCDs) for primary healthcare (PHC) facilities and to explore the willingness-to-pay (WTP) for facility attributes. Methods: A discrete choice experiment (DCE) was conducted through face to face interviews. The DCE survey was constructed by five attributes: type of service, treatment measures, cost, travel time, and care provider. Patients’ preferences and willingness to pay for facility attributes were analyzed using a mixed logit model, and interaction terms were used to assess preference heterogeneity among patients with different sociodemographic characteristics. Results: Patients placed different weights on attributes, depending on whether they perceived their health condition as minor or severe. For conditions perceived as minor, patients valued treatment measures (56.60%), travel time (32.34%) and care provider (8.51%) most. For conditions perceived as severe, they valued treatment measures (52.19%), care provider (38.69%), and type of service (7.30%) most. The WTP related to the change from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) service to Modern Medicine (MM) service was the largest for both severity scenarios. For conditions perceived as minor, patients would be willing to pay 102.84 CNY (15.43 USD) for a reduction in travel time to below 30 min. For conditions perceived as severe, WTP related to the change from general service to specialized service and from junior medical practitioner to senior medical practitioner, were highly valued by respondents, worth 107.3 CNY (16.10 USD) and 565.8 CNY (84.87 USD), respectively. Conclusions: Factors related to the provision of PHC, such as treatment measures, care provider and type of service were highly valued. The findings could contribute to the design of better PHC delivery, improve the participation of patients in PHC, and provide some evidence to promote shared decision-making.

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