Valuing quality of life: results for New Zealand health professionals.
OBJECTIVE
To illustrate the means by which health state preferences, which are required in the calculation of QALYs, may be generated. To elicit health state values from a sample of New Zealand health professionals, and to compare these with those evident from a sample of health professionals and of the general population overseas.


METHODS
This research employed a questionnaire (EQ-5D) developed by the EuroQol group which elicits preferences for health states described in terms of three levels within each of five dimensions of health-related quality of life. This questionnaire was administered to groups of students enrolled in a postgraduate Diploma of Public Health course in Auckland (1993-1995), Wellington and Dunedin (1993-1998), and Christchurch (1993-1997).


RESULTS
The health state preferences for the New Zealand sample are similar to those evident for samples of health professionals in Sweden and, to a lesser extent, those evident from a sample of the English general public.


CONCLUSIONS
The EQ-5D represents a means of readily eliciting health state preferences in the form required to facilitate cost utility analysis. Further research is required in New Zealand to generate a "tariff of health state preferences from the general public across all health states and to explore hypotheses specific to New Zealand, including the possibility that there may be significant differences between Maori and non-Maori with regards to health state preferences.
Devlin
N
N
Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, Dunedin School of Medicine. ndevlin@commerce.otago.ac.nz
Williams
A
A
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001294:Attitude to Health; D004739:England; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008603:Mental Health; D009520:New Zealand; D011634:Public Health; D019057:Quality-Adjusted Life Years; D012648:Self Care; D013336:Students, Health Occupations; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden