Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies
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Focus Alternat Complement Ther©2005 Pharmaceutical Press
Focus Altern Complement Ther 2002; 7: 113–4
To investigate patient preferences for attributes or characteristics associated with treatment for their asthma and to investigate the extent to which such preferences may differ between patient subgroups.
The economic technique of conjoint analysis (CA) was used to investigate patients’ strength of preference for several key attributes associated with services for the treatment of asthma. A CA questionnaire was given to two samples of asthma outpatients of 18 years or older, 150 individuals receiving conventional treatment at Whipps Cross Hospital (WC) and 150 individuals receiving homoeopathic treatment at the Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital (RL).
Statistically significant attributes in influencing preferences for both the WC and RL respondents were the extent to which the doctor gives sufficient time to listen to what you have to say, the extent to which the treatment seems to relieve your symptoms and the travel costs of attending for an asthma consultation. In addition, the extent to which the doctor treats you as a whole person was also a statistically significant attribute for the RL respondents.
This study has demonstrated that aspects associated with process of delivery of asthma services are important to patients in addition to treatment outcomes. The homoeopathic respondents expressed stronger preferences for the doctor to treat them as a whole person compared with patients receiving conventional treatment. However, overall, the preferences for the attributes included within the exercise were similar for both homoeopathic and conventional treatment respondents.
