title: Assessing patients' preferences for characteristics associated with homeopathic and conventional treatment of asthma: a conjoint analysis study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A study was undertaken to investigate the preferences of patients with asthma for attributes or characteristics associated with treatment for their asthma and to investigate the extent to which such preferences may differ between patient subgroups.
  
  
  METHODS
  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 administered to two groups of asthma outpatients aged 18 years or older, 150 receiving conventional treatment at Whipps Cross Hospital (WC) and 150 receiving homeopathic treatment at the Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital (RL).
  
  
  RESULTS
  An overall response rate of 47% (n=142) was achieved. Statistically significant attributes in influencing preferences for both the WC and RL respondents were (1) the extent to which the doctor gave sufficient time to listen to what the patient has to say, (2) the extent to which the treatment seemed to relieve symptoms, and (3) the travel costs of attending for an asthma consultation. The extent to which the doctor treated the patient as a whole person was also a statistically significant attribute for the RL respondents.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study has shown that aspects associated with the process of delivery of asthma services are important to patients in addition to treatment outcomes. The homeopathic respondents expressed stronger preferences for the doctor to treat them as a whole person than the patients receiving conventional treatment. Overall, the preferences for the attributes included in the study were similar for both groups.
authors.affiliation: Health Economics Research Group, Brunel University, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UK. jratcliffe@rti.org
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ratcliffe
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Van Haselen
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Buxton
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hardy
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Colehan
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Partridge
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001249:Asthma / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D002755:Choice Behavior; D005260:Female; D006705:Homeopathy; D006801:Humans; D008131:London; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires